The personality conviction
by shamour
Summary: Shamy: Sheldon is forced to attend a seminar to improve his soft skills. Amy helps him. A lot. :-)
1. Date night discussions

**A/N:** I've just been to a similar seminar myself and had to think about how much fun it might be to have Sheldon and Amy there as well… so here we go!

This will be at least ten chapters, and this time I've finished a great deal already, so I won't make you wait too long. There will also be a bit of angst, but don't worry. I will post on Monday/Wednesday/Friday for the time being, I hope you'll enjoy! As episode 8.20, The Fortification Implementation, has just aired, no spoilers in this story!

I do not own these characters, or they would be doing a lot more of this stuff... Many thanks to my wonderful beta, Hazelra7! You're the best! :-)

* * *

"Good evening, Amy," Sheldon greeted his girlfriend as she entered his apartment.

"Sheldon, why are you holding your happy mask in front of your face again?" Amy asked worriedly as he closed the door.

"Obviously because I'm not happy, but not allowed to be unhappy on date night," he replied curtly, following her to the couch where they sat down, Sheldon in his spot, and Amy by his side, facing him with her hands on her knees.

"Yes, I got that. You put it into the relationship agreement yourself. But why are you not happy? Is this about… us?" Amy inquired anxiously.

"No to the second question, and to the first one: Can't tell you. Also not allowed on date nights," the voice behind the mask answered.

Amy sighed in relief. It was 'just' about work. "Okay, proposal: We suspend date night, effective immediately, you tell me what's bothering you, and then we resume it."

"Alright." Sheldon put down his mask on the table and faced her. "Gablehouser wants to force me to attend a seminar to improve my soft skills. It's called 'convincing with personality'. The horror! Doesn't he get it that my time is much too valuable for such malarkey?" He said with a disgusted scowl.

"It certainly is. But I'm sure you remember our conversation about fund raising?" Amy asked tentatively, secretly thrilled because this course had found her attention as well when she skimmed through the new seminar program some days earlier.

"Of course I do. An example of you making me do things I don't want to," he stated stubbornly.

"You're not referring to our new date night arrangements as well, I hope?" Amy's voice was quivering very slightly. She knew she shouldn't feel insecure anymore, but recently it all seemed too good to be true.

"I most certainly am not!" Sheldon exclaimed and was rewarded with a huge smile, so he must have said something right. He felt the need to clarify further. "And may I remind you, little lady, that it was I who set the precedent for sleepovers on date nights? You just extended it to regular sleepovers each week."

"So it's the idea and not the execution that counts?" Amy grinned now.

"In this case, I'm grateful for both parts. But don't tell Leonard that. Oh look, here I am compromising again. The things I do for love…" He casually stroked her cheek, not even realizing the intimate gesture his hand had made on its own accord, sending shivers to Amy's skin. His face had changed into the same soft look he had on Christmas after tasting Amy's cookies baked according to his Meemaw's recipe.

"Well, you seem to enjoy doing a lot of things for love recently…" Amy was lost in thoughts as her hand had come up to the spot on her skin he had just briefly touched, her smile still tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"And as you seem to need the reassurance: I don't regret any of them!" His eyes bore into hers intensely. "Although I have to point out that I have been completely innocent here. If you hadn't snuggled your appealing posterior so close to me while I was simply trying to sleep, all of this," and with his hands he drew the shape of her hour-glass figure in the air between them, "would never have happened…" He tried to sound annoyed, but she could tell by the twitching of his lips that he was enjoying this, but didn't want to give up his bad mood so easily.

She could also see his gaze wandering all over her body. Any other guy, she would have told him, 'Hey, my eyes are up here,' but with any other guy she didn't share a physical relationship! It was all so new for her – for both of them, and she loved to revel in his gaze, to have the very tangible proof of his attraction to her body and not only her mind.

"Interesting, because I remember your arm enclosing my waist beforehand and pulling me near you. Thank you for this useful piece of information indeed, Dr. Cooper." Amy knew that he loved to be called by his title, and she finally got a smile out of him. "There it is," she cajoled. "Now we can talk about that seminar without needing this mask anymore."

"But what should I do, Amy? I don't want to go," he whined.

"Well… are you satisfied with pursuing dark matter research as a junior professor?" She inquired, placing her left hand on his knee closest to her at the word 'satisfied' without further thinking.

"I am," he said, nodding his head a bit too eagerly in agreement as he felt the warmth of her hand through his pants.

"And what is required from you in such a position?" Amy continued, her thumb absent-mindedly starting to move with tiny strokes on his knee while she felt lost in the cerulean blue of his eyes.

"Letting my mind work in peace… to unravel the mysteries… of the universe," he replied haltingly as her touch made it difficult to form the words.

"And what else?" Amy kept digging, her fingers still stroking the fabric of his pants while she was fascinated watching him biting his lower lip.

"Teaching students," he mumbled, mesmerized by the tiny movements of her hand.

Amy smiled at him contentedly. "And how do you attract them?"

Sheldon's gaze lowered to her lips as she spoke of attraction. They distracted him even more than her touch, but then he remembered what he wanted to say. "Oh. They are easily drawn to the fire that is my genius."

"Of course they are… Although we both are familiar with survival of the fittest, is it sage advice to burn the students in the process?" Amy suddenly noticed that her hand was touching him and froze, then tried to remove it quickly. But Sheldon was faster and held it in place with his own hand on top of hers.

"That's their problem, not mine," he pouted, partly because of what he knew she was implying with this conversation, but mostly because he felt more and more addicted to her touch lately and didn't want her to stop.

Amy felt a delicious shiver running all the way up her arm from his thumb stroking the back of her hand. But she needed to concentrate to make her point. "Not at first," she managed to reply. "But do you know what might happen to a professor that doesn't have students to teach? And by the way, I heard that Barry has also applied for this position."

"Kripke again? What do you have to do with him anyway? Are you still selling your math out?" Sheldon exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, grabbing her hand firmly, holding her even closer to him than before as if to keep her from running away.

"I don't see how this is your concern, but I am not, and Howard told me," Amy eased him. She wouldn't admit it, but felt a bit flattered by his obvious jealousy. Although it wasn't made up, she had mentioned Barry partly to see his reaction.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to keep some of the students…" he began as he relaxed his grip on her again. Their hands had moved up his thigh a bit when he grabbed her close to him earlier.

"And what if there were methods for you to learn how to impress them even more with your exceptional personality?" Amy continued.

"I still don't want to go to this seminar," he stated, biting his lip again.

"I still think it's a good idea, and I hoped you decided to go on your own volition, but… " Amy fidgeted in her seat and averted his eyes. "With this new seminar program coming out, I also had a look at it, and… well, I signed up for the same course, and I was so thrilled when you told me Gablehouser wanted to send you as well, so… why don't we do it together? It could be so much fun!"

"Amy, Amy, Amy," he shook his head and looked at their hands on his thigh with their fingers having entwined somehow in the meantime. "You distract me enough as it is. How should I even be able to work with you?"

"Uhm… I'll take this as a compliment. But we could make a game out of it…" Amy started to explain.

Sheldon jumped up a bit in his spot, interrupting her. "Oh you want to pretend we're aliens?"

"I've been thinking more along the lines of a different kind of role-playing…" She tried to elaborate, but Sheldon was having none of it.

"I'm not going to play D&amp;D with you in front of an audience! Seriously woman, don't you have any modesty at all?" He had loosened their grip and was running his hand through his hair now as he remembered what he told her next. "It was bad enough when Leonard caught us kissing goodbye on Sunday morning, and that wasn't even a regular date night, let alone a scheduled sleepover! At the pace we're going, next thing you'll ask me is to start our own Tijuana sex show replacing fun with flags on the internet!"

"Oh no, that's not what I meant at all!" Amy blushed furiously. "What do you think of me, Sheldon?"

"You know all too well what's been on my mind recently… or not so recently, to be honest," he answered in a rougher voice than normal.

"Oh Sheldon… you seem to forget sometimes that this is all so new… and frightening sometimes… for me, too. I know what order and control mean to you, and I can't even begin to tell you how honored, cherished and loved you make me feel… just by being comfortable enough around me to let go and let me be a part of this passion you always deny having... And of course I know how you feel about public displays of affection, I would never embarrass you in that way."

"Alright. I may have jumped to hasty conclusions. Please proceed." Sheldon leaned back in his spot.

"I was just thinking, if we attend this seminar together, it would be fun to pretend not to know each other. They would let us do all these get-to-know-each-other exercises together, we wouldn't have to do it with strangers and feel more comfortable. And we might even learn something new."

"This I really doubt. But you do have valid arguments, so color me intrigued."

"So it is settled, then? We'll do the course together?"

"Agreed," Sheldon sighed. "And for the record, I didn't say I was frightened." Amy just looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Okay I am, but I didn't say it… I'm simply not a fan of losing control," he tried to explain, looking at her lips. "Now as we've discussed it, shall we resume our date night?"

Before Amy could answer yes, his lips were on hers. Her mouth was already parted to speak, and Sheldon didn't waste any time after having to wait all day to finally feel her close to him again. His tongue took one swift swipe along her bottom lip and then plunged right in. Amy reciprocated his kiss eagerly. Her tongue danced vigorously around his while her fingers held onto his biceps. Sheldon's hands were entangled in her hair to hold her in place and feel her soft silky strands glide through his fingers.

Finally they needed to come up for air. Both of them were panting slightly, leaning their foreheads together. "You taste just as sweet as I remember," Sheldon said in a rough voice, watching her swollen lips in awe. "But we should eat first… we might need the strength later on."

* * *

Sheldon had prepared a delicious dinner for date night. They had strawberry quik made of syrup, not the powder and talked about their days. Despite the recent alterations of the paradigm of their relationship, this hadn't changed, and they felt at ease in each other's company.

_Their fort sleepover had been G rated, except for their first French kissing experiment that had started innocently enough as a good-night kiss in the fort, and to Sheldon's surprise it had been an extremely pleasurable experience. It had been late, and Amy had tried to stifle a yawn just when he decided to kiss her in their usual manner. Her open mouth had caught both of them in surprise, and suddenly he had to improvise and was nibbling her lower lip. He had lost it then when he heard that barely-there humming noise emanating from Amy and grazed her lips with his tongue. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, her tongue was there, tentatively touching his own, setting all his nerve endings on fire. He strongly believed that was what addiction felt like. He had fidgeted around several days afterwards, trying to find a way to bring it up that he needed more data to support this hypothesis. It was then Amy who proposed to include weekly sleepovers into their date night schedule, and oh boy did they collect more data! _

_On their second sleepover – in Sheldon's room in which one girl was allowed now after all – they had snuggled so close together that Amy could feel his excitement poking into her bottom. That had happened more and more often, but they had never been so close together for her to feel it. It had simply started with him draping his arm around her and pulling her close to preserve body heat, which was only logical after all. He didn't take into account what her butt pressed so close to his groin would do to him. When he noticed it, it was already too late, because he had felt Amy's body go rigid in shock. A moment had passed in which both were considering jumping up and running for the hills, but then Amy had exhaled and deliberately moved her bottom in tiny circles against him, holding his arm around her waist. Then one thing had led to another, and they were making love for the first time. The only awkward thing had been Sheldon running off to the shower directly afterwards, but Amy followed him, needing to reconnect with him, and that's exactly what they did then… again… God bless the adhesive ducks._

_Their third sleepover had been at Amy's after playing with her TARDIS, and her waterbed had given them a whole new experience. That was last week, and Sheldon couldn't stop thinking about her. He shoved Leonard out of the apartment on Saturday, convincing him that he was compromising again for him so that he could have two nights a week at Penny's, and invited Amy over. This time they went directly to the shower together. And that was also when they were caught kissing by Leonard on Sunday morning. But so far, none of their friends seemed to have noticed any more than their just-sleeping-and-kissing activities, and they intended to keep it that way for the time being. This was all so new and just for them and not fodder for the group to make fun of._

After having done the dishes together, Amy and Sheldon were drinking tea at the kitchen counter. Amy took a sip of her tea mug and put it down on the counter. She felt his gaze lingering on her and smiled at him, wondering what went through his head right now. "Do you want to watch a movie before calling it a night?"

Sheldon looked her up and down unabashedly. "Amy. You really wore me out last time, woman. I propose we head directly to bed tonight."

Amy covered her bottom lip with her hand in surprise. "Hoo. I'd love to…"

Then she noticed a large crumb of the cookie she had for tea had fallen down. As she bent down to pick it up, facing away from him, she heard his voice all dark of a sudden. "Don't you know how much self-restraint Homo Novus has to exert each time you wiggle your ample posterior in front of him?"

"I do not wiggle, Sheldon," she started, then thought better of it. "But you're full of useful information tonight… Oh look, another cookie crumb…" and she bent down again.

"Are you doing this on purpose?" He nearly growled this time at this wonderful view in front of him.

"I guess I am…" She batted her eyelashes down at him as she came up again.

"Good. Because that wasn't clear… I believe I'm getting better at this, but… would you mind to clarify just one more time?" He was surprised how much he enjoyed having her flirting with him… but no, this was more than flirting, as evidenced by the growing bulge in his pants.

Amy had noticed it, too, because he saw her gaze flickering down to his crotch, and she licked her upper lip unknowingly. Strangely, he wasn't embarrassed at all, but even thrilled that she seemed to like what she saw, because she shot him a smile looking back over her shoulder as she started to bend down again, much slower this time.

Suddenly, this was all too much to take. He needed to touch her. Right. Now. And then he was behind her, pressing into her while his hands reached around to her belly, pulling her up again.

Amy slowly swayed her hips against him, increasing the torturous friction, while her hands moved back towards his hips, holding him in place.

Sheldon's hands had already moved underneath her cardigan, pulling her blouse out of her skirt and finally touching the soft skin underneath. Amy shivered at the barely-there touch that first tickled her, but then he pressed his warm hands flatly against her tummy and began to draw large circles all over her skin while his nose nuzzled in her hair, inhaling her intoxicating scent.

Amy shuddered in delight and pressed her back even further into him. He involuntarily bucked his hips into her, and his lips found the sensitive spot on her neck just behind her ear. She moaned as he started sucking there and moved her head to the side to grant him better access.

"We should move this to the bedroom," Sheldon whispered in her ear as his hands began to move up slowly.

"Do we have to?" Amy answered between soft moans. She didn't want to move right now. His hands were like magic on her.

His hands had come up to cup her breasts beneath her clothes. He wanted to push aside her bra and was delighted to find there wasn't any. "Oh," he gasped. Her breasts felt so soft and warm and fitted perfectly in his hands.

"I felt… it would be… an unnecessary constraint… for date night," Amy panted.

"Mh-hmm," he agreed and swiftly rolled her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers with just the right amount of friction he knew she loved. Amy's breath was becoming ragged by his ministrations, which turned him on even more.

"Or let's go to the shower… I really don't care right now!" Sheldon groaned.

"Oh… you don't?" Amy moved a step forward towards the armchair with Sheldon following her automatically to not lose the body contact. She bent down again, supporting her weight with her forearms on the back of the chair. She spread her legs a little, making her tight denim skirt ride up a bit on her bare legs.

"Then what would you do if I told you… I not only seem to have forgotten my bra… but that I'm also not wearing any panties tonight?" She continued in a sultry voice.

"Oh. Dear. Lord," was all she heard in a hoarse voice, followed by the sound of a zipper. Then his hands were on her bottom, pushing her skirt further up, and his fingers travelled between her legs, surprised and enraptured by the wetness he found there already. In an instant they were replaced by his arousal he had now freed from his pants, and she spread her legs even further to invite him in.

With one long stroke he pushed himself inside her, both of them moaning at the contact. He retreated nearly completely, only to push back inside with even more force. Amy's hand moved down between her legs, desperately circling her clit while he drove into her more and more frantically. This wasn't going to last long for both of them. Only a few more strokes and he became undone, muffling his cries in her neck while he emptied inside her. Just two or three more flicks with her fingers, and Amy was convulsing around him as well, gripping him tightly with her walls as she groaned his name.

When he slipped out of her, she finally turned around in his arms and gave him a long, deep kiss. "And now we can move this to the shower," she smiled as she took his hand and dragged him behind her.


	2. Questions and answers

**A/N:** Now let's start with the seminar... and Hazelra7, thank you so much again for beta-reading!

* * *

On Friday morning three weeks later, Amy and Sheldon were sitting on opposite sides of the seminar room. Both of them pretended to be working on their laptops, waiting for the course to begin and taking care to not seem familiar with each other. Only six other people were in the room, luckily they all seemed to be from other departments and no one recognized them.

Amy's skype messenger window popped open. She smiled as she read Sheldon's text: _'It hasn't even started yet, and I'm already bored…'_

She gave him a quick glance, but he didn't pay her any attention. She typed back, _'Well, what would you prefer to do right now?'_

'_Oh, I've got ideas all day long. You don't even want to get me started on you, little lady…'_

'_Interesting. Now you assume to know what I want. Care to elaborate?'_

'_I know all too well what you want. I'd have to lead you to a secluded area first…'_

The seminar instructor entered, interrupting their little chat. She was an elderly lady in her fifties, with light brown hair, slightly wavy, reaching down to her chin, but tagged behind her ears. According to her sparkling eyes framed by laugh lines and the open smile she gave them, she seemed to like her job or just life in general. She was about Amy's size, but of a more sturdy stature. She entered with a resolute walk and greeted them with a deep, pleasant voice. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Marion, and I'll be your coach for today. You won't be needing any technical utilities here," with that she glanced at their laptops, and everyone put them back into their bags. "I will only require your voice and body," she winked at them.

"Oh boy, here we go," Sheldon mumbled.

"Is there a problem… Sheldon?" She glanced at his name plate. "I hope it's ok for all of you to be calling each other by your first names? It will ease our communication and help becoming more familiar with one another."

"My name is the least of my problems. I'm just not a fan of any unnecessary physical contact," Sheldon explained.

"Oh, don't you worry, no one will be touching you. It's all about your speech and body language. We want to strengthen your self-confidence using your emotions and giving you courage to just take a chance. Now for starters, I'd like to get to know each of you a bit better. But I won't bore you with having to introduce yourself like in some self-help group. You will do interviews instead."

She looked into the round. "Pick a person across from you and try to think of at least three questions, ask them and pay attention to the answers, and afterwards everyone will present their partner to the group. I'll give you twenty minutes to prepare, and then we'll do the presentations. As it is quite a large room and we only have four pairs, let's move the tables to a corner each so that you won't be disturbing each other."

Sheldon smiled and came over to Amy. This didn't start so bad after all… After having moved to 'their' corner, Amy took one of the file cards lying on each table and started to think. She knew of course how to present Sheldon, but it would be fun to ask him some unusual questions.

Sheldon was just looking at her fingers while she started to write down her questions.

After a short time, Amy became irritated by his gaze upon her. "Aren't you gonna write anything?" She whispered. The other pairings were also starting to talk to each other in muffled voices.

"Don't worry, it's all in my head," Sheldon pointed with his finger at his forehead. In a lower voice he added, "And I'm not going to put _that_ on paper… besides, I love watching your fingers."

"Al… right… it makes me wonder what kind of questions you're thinking of." Amy fidgeted around in her seat, unsure of where he would be going with this.

"Then let's find out. Do you want me to start?" Sheldon wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Okay…" she said, still holding her pen.

"Speaking about fingers… Do you think about me while you're pleasuring yourself?"

Amy's pen fell down in her surprise and rolled off the table. Sheldon smirked in an un-gentlemanly manner while the others looked up from what they were doing to Amy crawling under the table to retrieve her pen. Sheldon started to enjoy the seminar, especially as he was just getting a full view of her posterior while she was bending down.

"That's awfully personal, Sheldon!" she hissed when she came up again with a red head.

"It is, isn't it? That's the beauty of it! After all, you dragged me here. And... well, we do that now."

"But whoa, whoa, wait, how do you come to the assumption that I do that at all?" Amy tried to sound indignant while still keeping her voice down.

"Oh please, with all that patience for me, you had to relieve some stress at some point. It's only logical." Sheldon explained as if it had been obvious for the entire world to see.

"Okay, I won't argue with that… and it's kind of hot to hear you using logic for this…." Amy admitted.

"I'm glad we've both come to the conclusion that I'm right. But you haven't answered the question yet." Sheldon was persistent, boring into her eyes.

Amy sighed and tried hard to hold his gaze. "Sheldon, it's always been you in my thoughts… since that drunken kiss I gave you and pretended not to remember," she confessed, her voice now barely to hear.

"Good," he smiled at her.

"Good that I've been thinking about you or that I did remember that kiss after all?"

"Yes," he confirmed, nodding his head to both questions.

"But wait… you said earlier that it was logical… Are you implying that even Homo Novus engages in such activities?" Amy leered at him now, not too lady-like herself.

"Why do you think I need to shower twice a day?" Sheldon leaned over to her so that no one could overhear his whisper. "Ever since I ran you that bath, your luscious body has been tempting me... first only shortly during my waking hours, but then you started to invade my dreams as well. I tried Kolinahr and cold showers at first, oh boy I tried," and he looked longingly at her lips. "But I didn't have all day long for this… I needed a faster way to… get rid of it…" Sheldon looked down at his lap automatically. "So we're back to logic now," he finished, proud of his own brilliance again.

"Wow… I had no idea…" Amy was baffled. If she had only known earlier… but they were in a good place now, and it was well worth the wait.

"I should hope so. Even Leonard never suspected anything. But we should continue with your questions, or we'll never get this finished, and you know how I feel about that."

"Okay, you asked for it. What were you thinking of when I wanted to know earlier what you would like to do now?" Amy started with her first question.

"I really don't think we should talk about that here." Now it was Sheldon's time to fidget around.

"Oh, really? Well, you started it. And just for your information: This is me pointing out the hypocrisy of it, because it can't be any more personal or embarrassing than your question," Amy quipped.

"Oh yes, it can," he objected.

"Okay then, humor me," Amy challenged.

"Humor has nothing to do with it. But since you've asked..." He just looked at her as if she was good enough to eat, licking his lips. His intense stare made her blush, but she couldn't avert her eyes from his. He tore his gaze away from her shortly to check that no one was observing them, but all the others were busy with their interviews.

Relieved, he moved closer to her and spoke again, his voice so low it was barely a whisper. "I want you so much... I can't take it sometimes... and now that I know what it feels like... it's even worse. I feel so greedy... I just want these people to be gone, so I could have my way with you... right here on this table, preferably..."

He gulped, not daring to touch her in the seminar room full of strangers, especially as they were pretending to not know each other. "Please don't ask me for details... it's hard enough as it is already to know I'll be around you all day long... what has become of me?"

"Hoo," Amy uttered involuntarily, covering her mouth with her hand.

"You don't say," he answered, enchanted by the way her fingers were slightly moving on her lips, imagining his own fingers there instead… or other body parts.

"Uhm… we'll come back to that later," Amy said, placing her hands to rest on her customary spot on her knees. "Would you like to ask your second question?"

"What's your favorite position?" Sheldon asked quickly.

"Do you have any non-sex-related questions?" Amy started to wonder what had become of her formerly stoic boyfriend during the last month – not that she minded, of course...

"I do, but I'm still thinking about your previous one," he admitted.

"Oh dear, I've created a monster…" Amy exhaled.

"Don't flatter yourself. It's been there all along. It's just not afraid anymore to come out," he grinned at her smugly.

"I'm glad I got what I wished for," Amy smiled. Then she locked her eyes with him, challenging him. "Me on top," she answered finally, longing to touch him, but keeping her hands on her knees. Why had it become so difficult lately to keep her hands to herself? But she didn't seem to be the only one having this problem when she recalled the increase of his casual touches during the last weeks. "How about you?"

"Hmm…" he started, imagining the possibilities. "Pinning you against the wall in the shower," he finally decided. Then he whispered very quietly, "I think we need to change the subject now… it might get embarrassing if I had to stand up now…" he finished sheepishly.

Amy's mouth formed a small 'o'. Had it just become hot in here? She frantically tried to come up with a more harmless question. "When did you realize that you loved me?" she finally asked, trying not to look at his lap, that wouldn't help at all.

"It finally hit me on the train trip… although I have known it before… I just wasn't ready to face it." His intense gaze at her had changed slightly to some kind of koala face when he remembered recognizing the feeling. Amy had indeed helped him calm down a bit again.

"I guessed so," she nodded. "What's your third question?"

"Why are you so eager to move in with me?" Sheldon asked.

"Oh, I'm not anymore. No need to worry," Amy said offhandedly.

"What does that mean?" Sheldon asked anxiously.

"Just what I said, that you shouldn't worry. I won't mention that again, I won't scare you off."

"But don't you like our sleepovers?"

"Of course I do. But I've decided to let you set the pace, that seems to work best for us," she smiled.

"But… without your constant… insistence… we wouldn't have come this far… and I kind of like it… a lot…" he stammered.

Amy tried to suppress a smile. "Sheldon, I'm getting mixed signals here. Do you want me to bring this topic up again?"

"Perhaps I do… I'll have to start looking for a new roommate sometime in the future… I'm just saying, you might want to throw your application in the pool as well," he smiled at her encouragingly.

"Alright, I'll think about it," she replied in a neutral voice, trying not to sound too excited by all the progress they made the last weeks.

But Sheldon was now actually worried she'd first have to consider it thoroughly. He had always imagined he just needed to snap his fingers if he was finally ready for this step, and she would be eagerly running at his command. This was not what he had envisioned, and he didn't like it. Or was she making fun of him? With such a serious topic, nonetheless? Again he thought how helpful this mind-reading ability would be right now…

"Which kind of brings me to my third question: Why has it always been so imperative for you that no girl was allowed in your room?" Amy interrupted his thoughts.

"Uhm… you do know what happened the first time I had you alone in my room? We practically had sex, for God's sake! It was just D&amp;D, but oh boy did it feel real! Hadn't you noticed how long it took for me to put the dice back in place afterwards, trying to recompose myself? And that was all my idea, though I kept telling myself I wasn't ready for this."

"And here we're back to your first question… that session has been quite the inspiration for many a lonely night," Amy whispered, making his jaw drop.

Sheldon gulped, then continued, "Why didn't we talk about this earlier?"

"Because you would have denied it, run away and possibly ended our relationship because you couldn't take all that pressure I was putting on you," Amy explained, patiently as always.

"That does sound like me… but there's more…"

Marion interrupted them, "Okay, time's up. Let's present everyone to the group now."

Sheldon sighed, he hated to leave things unfinished. But on the other hand, they had talked about too much hippie-dippy stuff already, he needed time to analyze it first… Just playing that question and answer game had practically brought him to admit he wanted her to move in! So much for taking tiny steps and preserving homeostasis… Perhaps it's good to have it end right here, or next thing he knew he'd be on his knees begging her to marry him, for God's sake!

He must have been in the zone for a moment, because suddenly he was aware of Amy looking at him curiously while Marion was finishing her explanations. "... so while you are talking, remember to keep it simple, don't use too long sentences, you want to keep your audience interested and not intimidate them. And while you are being presented, I'd like you to check if it's all true or if the interviewer may have added some things that you didn't state at all. This is an important exercise as well, because we often do that and tend to imply things that aren't there. Sheldon, would you like to begin?"

"Okay," he began, gathering his senses." I'd like to present Amy Farrah Fowler. She's a brilliant neuroscientist. She can strap you on a table with electrodes on your head and dissect your brain later. She has worked with monkeys for addiction studies and is currently stimulating my… uhm minor pleasure zones in starfish," he quickly corrected himself, but no one – except Amy with eyes growing like saucers at that Freudian slip – seemed to have noticed.

He continued, "She loves medieval literature, Chaucer is her favorite. She likes watching old French movies and Little House on the Prairie, and she plays the harp beautifully. She is here today because she felt the need to improve her soft skills for presenting her published results at conferences. Although due to her warm and patient nature she won't have any problems with that. "

"Is this all correct, Amy?"

"In general, yes. Although I never said I played beautifully, neither did I assume being brilliant. And I certainly don't remember talking about my nature," she answered modestly.

"Oh, please, you have an IQ of over 180, that's brilliant by any definition. And therefore it was only logical to deduce that when you do play the harp, it must be beautiful. The rest of your personality was easy to perceive."

"Well, thank you, Sheldon, but I'm not sure if we're here today to learn about flattery," Amy blushed.

"Oh, it can be quite effective, but you shouldn't exaggerate it," Marion explained.

"I don't do flattery, I am just stating facts," Sheldon replied.

"Alright, then let's hear what Amy has to tell about you," Marion said with a smile.

"I may present Sheldon Lee Cooper to you. According to our previous discussion, he is brilliant as well. He is a junior professor in theoretical physics, and is currently working on dark matter research. Therefore the head of his department proposed to him to come here in order to inspire his students even more. He made his first Ph.D. at the age of fourteen and has an eidetic memory. He is not fond of germs or unnecessary touching, but he loves trains, flags, koalas, comic books, science fiction… and Pride and Prejudice. He may appear a bit distant, perhaps even arrogant at first, but what most people don't recognize is his whacky sense of humor and his deep care for those few he considers his friends."

"I didn't say I liked Pride and Prejudice! And I didn't say anything about humor or caring for others!" Sheldon objected before Marion could even ask him.

"Correct," Amy replied, "But that's what I gathered from the way you were talking to me. And you said that book was a flawless masterpiece."

"Thank you for your assessment, Sheldon, but is Amy right with her assumptions?" Marion inquired.

"Well, I guess you could put it that way." He gave her a small smile, secretly pleased with her introduction, although hoping they wouldn't think of him as a hippie after mentioning that book.

* * *

After everyone had been introduced to the group, Marion wanted to start with their first exercise. "Now I want you to loosen up a little. I'd like to call this exercise 'courage for disgrace'. I will start a story, then point to one of you, and you will continue at once without thinking, and after some time give it over to someone else of your choice to continue. Any questions?"

"Loosen up? What is this, a hippie convention? And this brain does not just stop thinking!" Sheldon exclaimed, then shot a look at Amy eyeing him curiously. _'Although… there have been occasions… recently… where that vixen has managed to do just that,'_ he finished in his head.

"No one wants to change who you are. Our goal is just to let your personality shine through. Sometimes we are hindering ourselves from doing that. Our brain tends to overthink, and often good ideas are lost because we dismiss them as being stupid."

Marion had thought from the beginning that Sheldon might be quite a challenge today even if she hadn't been warned explicitly by Gablehouser. That had been unusual procedure, but now she started to get what he had been hinting at. But that's what made her job interesting. She smiled and tried another approach. "Ok, as a preparation, let's do something else first. I will tell you a word, and you say five words that spring to mind. Just start talking, and don't think about it."

She looked at Sheldon, "I saw you rolling your eyes. So let's start with you… Your word will be 'eyes'."

"Green. Beautiful. Glasses. Pupils. Dark. Fluttering. Eyelashes. Closed." Sheldon answered instantly, but now that he thought of it, he was terrified. They wouldn't start analyzing it now, would they? From the corner of his eyes he saw Amy's jaw had dropped, but she quickly closed it again.

However, Marion seemed to be happy. "That was very good, and even more than five words, thank you Sheldon." Thankfully she didn't dig any deeper. She thought of some other words for the rest of the group. When it was Amy's turn, she got 'table'.

"Dark. Wood. Break-up. Ridiculous. Hurt." Amy shot one word after the other.

"Well, these are… unusual associations you have with a table."

"I've always been… unusual." Amy answered evasively, not looking at Sheldon who had turned pale at her words.

* * *

**A/N:** Yay, my first tiny cliffhanger! Will they talk about it or ignore it? More on Wednesday, thank you for reading!


	3. Telling tales and memorizing tables

**A/N:** Many thanks again to Hazelra7 for beta-reading! :-)

* * *

After their first exercise in loosening up, Marion spoke to the group. "Thank you very much, all of you. I know this is not what you normally do, but I bet you were all great at this as a child. The problem is just, growing up and having to function in society also means putting up barriers of control… But perhaps we can see a bit of your childish carelessness again today. Shall I start with the story now, and then you are taking turns in completing it?"

It was more a statement than a question, and meant for all of them, but she looked directly at Sheldon whom she expected to oppose. As an afterthought, she added, "Just keep in mind that we are all friends here, no one will embarrass you."

"First of all, I don't choose my friends that easily, no offense," Sheldon looked at the others. "I could work with acquaintances, though. And secondly, I don't like giving up control," he answered evasively.

"That's what I've thought. Not many do, because it can be frightening. But this is not the real world, we can just experiment a bit. Although you're more of a theorist, I'm sure you can appreciate this."

"Of course this world is real, but I'm all for compromises. Go on, surprise me," Sheldon said, crossing his arms and legs while he turned his body away from her.

"Very well," Marion said, aware of his body language but choosing to ignore it. "Our story begins in a dimly-lit apartment. It is nearly noon, but the shutters are still down. A man wakes up, groaning from a headache. He staggers into the kitchen, drinks some water, then continues towards the fridge in search for food. Alas, all is empty. But he really needs to grab a bite to eat now, so he quickly changes and goes into the nearest bakery. Just as he wants to enter, a beautiful woman comes out. He is completely perplexed and just knows one thing: He has to talk to her. He looks her in the eye and says…" and here she looked at Sheldon to continue.

Sheldon blinked at her for a moment, then he said irritated, "I can't do this. There's so much wrong with that story! Oh where do I even start? Not having thought of buying food? A hangover? Picking up strange women? Oh please! This guy is completely ruled by his endocrine system!"

"And that's exactly what I meant. You're overthinking. You don't have to identify with the people in this story. And those assumptions are again only your interpretation. It may all have a different reason. Just… embrace the chaos and see where it leads you. It won't hurt. No one will be laughing at you."

"Alright. I'm anything if not open-minded. But this has to make sense first. This man you're talking of has stayed up late at night to finish important calculations for a paper he has to submit today. Of course he succeeded, but he didn't get much sleep that night, therefore his head hurts. His roommate has moved out recently, and with the deadline for his publication he's had more important things on his mind than to go for grocery shopping. The beautiful woman coming out of the bakery is his girlfriend. He asks her, 'Why did you leave?' She smiles and says, 'I didn't want to disturb you after you finally got some sleep. I grabbed something to eat for us. I was just heading back.' They walk home in comfortable silence. She has bought all the ingredients for French toast with butter and syrup. He takes a shower, and she prepares breakfast. Then there is a knock on the door, and…" with that he looked at Amy expectantly.

When he mentioned the French toast, Amy could just remember the conversation she had with Penny on his birthday when they had talked about their perfect days. She jumped right in, "As they open the door together, they get sucked into a wormhole. They find themselves in the future where mankind is threatened by a predatory alien race. Uhm… when they step out, they are in an underground governmental research facility. Around them, some of the brightest brains of the future centuries are gathered… literally. The brains are immersed in a nutrient solution, all connected to a giant computer. It transforms their brain waves into commands controlling earth's orbital self-defense system. Suddenly two brain jars are lighting up, and they can decipher their names on the tags below. They are greeted by their own voices from the computer: 'Welcome. We summoned you here from the past because you are our last hope. There has been a malfunction…'"

And with this, Amy handed the story over to one of the other participants. When she glanced at Sheldon, she saw a huge smile on his face. He truly was intrigued with the course of this story and felt so happy that she wanted him to have his perfect day. She smiled back at him because he even thought of bringing her into the story – with Sheldon, you never know, nothing is self-evident.

The rest of the story went about different methods to save mankind. When everyone had had his turn, Marion concluded the story with, "And they lived happily ever after."

'_I should hope so,'_ Sheldon thought.

"It's time for lunch soon," Marion said. "In the afternoon, we will have even more fun… well at least I will have. I will put you on camera while you will be convincing us with your argumentation. Don't worry, we'll do some preparations before, and later we will analyze the videos together. Perhaps you could already come up with a topic you'd like to discuss during lunch break. I'd propose a one-hour break so you won't be in a hurry. But you will have enough time to prepare later on; I just wanted to give you a heads up."

Sheldon and Amy decided to have lunch away from the group… that 5-words-game with Amy being hurt by his 'table actions' last year was still nagging on Sheldon's thoughts. But first of all, he was still thinking about Amy's story idea and couldn't wait to talk to her alone. He made little jumps during their walk to the canteen.

"I didn't know this was possible, but I love you even more after this story!" He beamed at her. "We should write one together, what do you think?"

"I would like that. What should be the rating?" Her eyes twinkled at him. She was enjoying it immensely that she could make him so happy with just a simple story idea.

"Oh, we'll just see where it goes…" He shook his head then, "I can't believe I said that… but for this single aspect that seems to work for us," he pondered.

Amy thought for a second of whether to bring her Little House story up. "You know… I'm not that unexperienced with time-travelling stories…"

"I know," he said nonchalantly.

"How…" she started flabbergasted.

"Wolowitz," he explained. "He wanted to make fun of me, of course. I pretended I knew already and that you had read it to me and that it was no big deal. I'm not the best at reading facial expressions, but he looked at me strangely then. I thought he saw through that lie, but he didn't mention it anymore. And… that evening I had to read it because I said so… and then I thought I understood why he had looked at me like that when I said it was no big deal. That was shortly before our sleepovers started. Uhm… I needed a third shower that day."

Amy was even more surprised by this admission than when he just told her he knew about her story. So he must have liked it? "Sheldon… if you'd like, I could read it to you… uhm, just to make sure you told the whole truth, of course."

"I would like that… I love hearing your voice," he accepted her offer.

They had arrived at the canteen. They picked up their food and decided to eat in the privacy of Sheldon's office. They made their way to the physics department in comfortable silence.

When they entered the building, Sheldon turned to Amy, his hand grazing the small of her back while he held the door open for her. She smiled up at him at the polite gesture, loving all these small touches he bestowed on her lately. These touches may come naturally to others, but with Sheldon, nothing was ordinary, and she loved those gestures even more.

Little did she know that he did not have to force himself doing that, quite the opposite recently, because each touch seemed to be enhanced to him, sending shivers everywhere. When her hand graced his accidentally on the stairwell, he had to grab the railing to support his suddenly weak knees. Sometimes the tiniest touch of her could still overwhelm him when he was caught off-guard, and the depth of his feelings for her frightened him a bit.

"Amy," he started to speak. "I need to take one tiny step at a time… and we've been taking light-year steps lately..."

Amy nodded in agreement, anxious where this would be going.

"But strangely I don't want to go back to where we were before…" he continued, not sure why he brought this up or how to finish.

When he stayed silent, Amy decided to answer. "I know it does feel like that for you… but you've made me so happy lately… and then sometimes I can't help thinking your next freak-out is long overdue… you just need to stumble over another piece of furniture you don't like…" She hated to be still feeling that insecure sometimes, but that happened when you're dating a flight risk.

"Amy, I am truly sorry," Sheldon tried to assure her. "I had no idea you still think about this when you hear the word table. I just… it was all too much at that time. I would never try to break up with you again. You already own all of my heart, I couldn't survive it… And I promise we'll make better memories on a table," he finished, unlocking his office as they had arrived at their destination.

"It's ok…" Amy started, then she grinned. "Was that about sex again?"

"It wasn't." Then he understood what she meant. "But dear lord, now it is," and he moved closer to her, ushering her into his office, locking the door while holding her gaze.

Amy felt lightheaded all of a sudden. Why did he look at her like that? How had she gotten trapped between the door and Sheldon – towering over her like that? Their height difference became so strikingly evident right now… was that why her heart was beating so fast?

He was so close she could smell his baby powder scent, feel his harsh breath on her skin… and then he had pinned her up against the door, his mouth crashing down on hers. Her bag with their sandwiches fell to the floor, but neither of them cared about that right now.

When she gave him that mental image about the table, Sheldon's brain kind of short-circuited. Oh, he'd give her such good memories on a table indeed. First, he needed to pry her mouth open… oh that was easy, her tongue already demanded entry into his own mouth… welcome home…

Amy felt him pressing against her, and she moaned into his mouth while her arms wrapped around his neck, supporting herself to stop transforming into a pile of goo on the floor. His hands had moved down to her thighs, hiking her legs up and around his hips, making her skirt ride up. He held her in place now in a firm grip on her ample bottom as he slowly grinded against her while their tongues were dancing in a similar way around each other, slowly and sensually.

Oh how he wanted to take her right now and then against the door… but this had to be about Amy… he needed to have her squirming on his table, and he knew just the way to do that to her… thanks to that infernal book Penny and Leonard gave him…

Sheldon began trailing open-mouthed kisses from her lips over her neck, slightly sucking on that vein at her neck, while his hands were kneading her butt. Amy instinctively pressed into him in response. Her eyes closed in pleasure and the panting noises she was making were driving him slowly mad.

He gathered up all his strength and carried her the few steps over to his desk. Amy had begun nibbling his ear, making him nearly forget his plan. He placed her on the desk while he kept standing before her. His lips sought hers again, their tongues dancing delicately around each other while her legs were still wrapped in a fierce grip around his hips.

Amy's sweet whimpering noises were music to his ears. Her hands had moved below his shirts, sending shivers down his spine simply by stroking his back. Sheldon moved his mouth slowly downwards to her clavicle while he unbuttoned her cardigan. Amy's head was thrown back as she reveled in his touch. Sheldon desperately needed to remove that cardigan, and finally he succeeded as Amy helped to shrug it off. One layer down, but more to go…

Thankfully, it was warm today, so Amy was only wearing a blouse underneath. She leaned back on his desk, supporting her weight with her hands behind her while Sheldon had already moved on to the buttons of her blouse. When he had unbuttoned them, he finally was rewarded with the magnificent sight of her heaving, flushed chest in front of him. He had no time for pulling her blouse off, he just pushed down her bra, causing her breasts to spill out over the rim.

Amy licked her lips in anticipation. When he swirled his tongue around one nipple while his fingers played with the other, he instantly felt them harden under his touches. "Oh yes, Sheldon, just like that," she panted in a rough voice, squirming against his crotch in need for relief that made it hard to remain in control and not to take her right then… but he needed that control for what he was about to do...

"Oh, I haven't even started with you, little lady," he answered hoarsely while his mouth trailed further southwards, his tongue dipping into her belly button and his hands still caressing her breasts. She had such a soft skin, and those little moaning noises she was making… and why did she always smell so good? Did she taste that good as well? He'd wanted to find out for some time now…

He let go of her breasts and sat down in his chair right before her, pulling her hips closer to him. She wasn't wearing any tights, so he just had to remove her skirt and panties… oh how eager she was to help him, lifting her hips up. Finally, there she was, right before his eyes. He could smell her arousal, the essence of Amy, so intoxicating to his senses.

Amy had been leaning back on her elbows, watching him in wonder with heavy-lidded eyes. Now he licked his lips, leering at her, making sure she was watching him while he slowly spread her legs and began trailing hot kisses on the insides of her thighs. Suddenly it dawned to her what he seemed to be up to… He wouldn't… no, would he? He'd never done that before…

And suddenly there he was, his hot, wet tongue lapping at her while his fingers plunged into her, first one, then joined by another, moving in and out of her wetness. He'd never thought he would be doing this… and even liking it… but she tasted delicious, good enough to eat, just like he'd imagined…

"Oh God Sheldon, don't stop, oh yesss… don't you ever dare stop…"Amy was quickly flying into frenzy as he started circling and sucking her clit. That was definitely something pleasant to suck on… Her legs were shivering and her eyes had rolled back in her head. He noticed that she was close and slowed down his movements, smiling evilly as she groaned in frustration, desperately needing the release now. He softly blew cool air over her folds, and she shivered and begged him, "Sheldon, pleaaase…"

"Please what?" He needed to hear it from her, her hoarse voice was such an incredible turn-on.

"Please take me… make me come… I need you so bad…" she panted.

He was so hard already from watching her and seeing the effect he had on her, but her voice was his undoing. He freed himself from his pants and pulled her roughly onto him, leaning back in his chair. "You on top, remember?" He groaned as she impaled herself on him, her hands grabbing his hair not too gently while her mouth came crushing down on his.

Amy was in control now, but he didn't care. Her tongue explored every corner of his mouth with her hands holding his head in place. She rode him like her life depended on it, and he could only hang in for the ride and try to meet her thrusts. Soon her movements became erratic, and she took his hand to press down on her clit, and then she fell apart with his name on her lips. He felt her walls clench down on him and finally let go himself, emptying inside her.

They kept sitting in their embrace for a while, waiting for their heartbeats and breathing to return to normal.

"I really like this table memory," Amy finally said, beaming at him.

"I should hope so, it's one of my favorite fantasies," Sheldon replied smugly.

"Mine now as well," she replied.

They kissed tenderly and started to clean up. After all, there was their lunch waiting for them, and thankfully they still had enough time before returning to the second part of their seminar.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope it's ok that they did more acting than talking about the table... next exercise will be posted on Friday! Thanks so much for reading!


	4. Moving pictures

**A/N:** Thank you all so much for your lovely reviews! I couldn't thank everyone in person due to the guest reviews, so I hope you'll read it here how happy you made me! And of course, thank you Hazelra7 my wonderful beta! :-)

* * *

After their lunch break, Marion welcomed them all back and wanted to start with their next topic. "We will soon start our camera exercise. Before, as a preparation, I will tell each of you a topic to defend, which doesn't necessarily have to be something you like. To convince the group of your opinion, I'd like you to follow these five steps," and while explaining, she went to the chalkboard to write down the headwords for each step.

"First, state your topic.

Second, explain why you have that opinion.

Third, tell us examples supporting your view.

Fourth, summarize your thoughts.

And fifth, appeal to the others to follow you.

We will do now a test run without the camera."

Marion looked around, searching for her first 'victim'. During lunch, she had heard one of the girls complaining about the acrid smell of smoke in most bars. She had her trying to convince the others to start smoking. Another guy had been introduced as coming to work by bike or jogging each morning, and she gave him the topic 'sports will kill you'. It had been quite funny to see them come up with arguments for that.

Next one was Sheldon. Marion said, "Sheldon, you asked earlier if this was a hippie convention. Now I'd like you to convince the others to participate in one."

"Alright, I'd like you to participate in a hippie convention… I have that opinion because you won't be achieving anything significant in your life anyway, so you can as well go and express your feelings there. As an example, just look at koalas. They're happily hanging around, so can you. To summarize, it's a great idea for all of you to go there, because then I can work in peace and no one will be bothering me. So here's my appeal: Go, become a hippie, love is all you need and give my peace a chance," he finished in his bored lectural tone.

"Oh. Well, okay, you followed the five steps. Is anyone here who would follow Sheldon's appeal?" Marion asked the others, seeing all of them shaking their heads.

"And why is that so?... Anyone?... Amy perhaps?" Marion continued.

"Oh no, I will not play the bad cop here. Could you tell him, please?" Amy asked.

Marion sighed. "Sheldon, it might have been more convincing if you wanted to go there yourself. You may appear to others as… well let's face it… arrogant and condescending. You should try to convey to your listeners the feeling that you're trying to understand them."

"But I don't care about that." Sheldon didn't understand the problem.

"Convincing others is also about empathy and caring for them," Marion tried to explain further. "I'm sure there are… things you care about?"

"There are," he quickly glanced at Amy, "But you picked the worst example," he said.

"Well, that's what I do," Marion grinned. "But next thing, you will choose a topic of your own for our camera experience. Just try to think what you would expect if you were in the audience… and don't tell people their work sucks, okay?"

He nodded, and she turned to Amy next. "Now Amy, I've learned that your work is quite outstanding. So I'd like you to convince us to excel in our work instead of having children," Marion proposed.

"Okay," Amy thought for a moment. "Today I will explain to you the significance of excelling in your work instead of starting a family. Although our body is wired to the biological imperative to reproduce, the strong-minded – and I think we all like to call ourselves that – can control their baser urges. Especially in times of an increasing world population and limited reserves of raw materials, it should be our main goal to ensure our place in history by our scientific achievements instead of the number of children we raised. I believe if you really want to contribute to science and stay on the Nobel track, you have to dedicate your life to it, and let's face it, a husband or family are a major distraction. Consider the monks or nuns in a monastery, they have also dedicated their life to a higher purpose and are totally content with it. Or look at Emmy Noether, a famous mathematician as you all know who spent her life solely in the pursuit of knowledge. If she had started a family, no one would have spoken about her ever after. And finally I myself have chosen this path, and so can you. Therefore I believe for the advancement of science and the pursuit of knowledge it is imperative to concentrate on our work instead of being ruled by our endocrine system. And I sincerely appeal to you to do the same."

Sheldon had turned very pale at her words. Was that really what she thought? They had never actually discussed it, apart from mentioning cool names for Martian children, but he had always assumed she'd want a family. Not that he was ready for that, of course… But how could she simply take away their hypothetical benign overlords with her cruel argumentation? And what was that part with controlling their baser urges suddenly about, especially after the lunch break they had just shared? He thought she had been enjoying it as well… but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to him like she was indeed considering him as a distraction for reaching her goals in life.

Marion was speaking already, but not really penetrating his thoughts. "…and you've made quite a convincing case, although you were using rather long and complicated sentences. So for the next time, keep it simple. If people have to concentrate too much, they'll get tired and won't follow you anymore." With these words she looked at Sheldon as if to emphasize it, but he was just staring blankly through her.

"Now, for our camera exercise, we will do it a bit differently," Marion decided to continue, moving to the chalkboard again. "First of all, for a more confident voice, you can come to the front and stand before us instead of crouching in your seats. And then you will convince us with your argumentation." Again, she wrote down five points.

"First, state your topic.

Second, give us arguments of understanding the opposite side.

Third, present your own arguments.

Fourth, give us your point of view with a judgement of these arguments.

And fifth, appeal to the others to follow your demands.

I will give you some time now to think again of a topic you want to talk about, and then we'll see what you've got and analyze it together. This would be a good time for our coffee break."

When they got up to leave the room, Sheldon awakened from his stupor, exited hastily and was nowhere to be found. Amy was confused, because this was not his regular time for bowel movements, so where could he have gone all of a sudden?

She looked around in the other rooms, then went downstairs and spotted him outside, leaning his back against the wall, slumped down to a squat with his head in his hands.

"There you are," she sighed, but he didn't answer and kept staring at his knees.

"Sheldon, what's the matter? Why were you running off like this?"

He finally looked at her with hollow eyes and lips pressed together tightly. "I just needed some fresh air," he said monotonously.

"Since when? Sheldon, you're worrying me!"

"Since you broke up with me to revel in your science after using me as a stress relief just an hour before!" He said, more forcefully than he intended, and stood up.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, when did that happen?" They just had such a good time during lunch… hoo really good… Then she played back her speech in her head. No, he couldn't really think she was serious about that?

"Sheldon, this was simply the topic Marion gave me," she started, but had already rushed past her.

Striding back into the building, he called back to her in a determined tone, "I'm not done with you. I haven't even started to be convincing yet!"

* * *

Having finished their coffee break, Marion was just asking if anyone would like to volunteer for the camera exercise, as Sheldon stormed in, followed by Amy.

"I need to go first! Put that camera up now!" He turned towards Amy. "I don't care what these people think, I'm not gonna let you walk away like this!"

Amy wanted to protest, but Marion interrupted her, "Let him speak, I've got a feeling he found a topic he's convinced of himself…"

Sheldon ignored the camera completely and stared at Amy, standing in front of her table. He had a slightly crazed appearance with his disheveled hair, his hands balled to fists and the intense glare he was giving her.

"I will convince you that you can have a scientific career and a fulfilling relationship with the one you love, and even a family. You said monks and nuns have decided to pursue that lifestyle for themselves. But that's not what we have chosen, nor would we be happy with it. You brought up Emmy Noether. She is a typical example of intelligent women in society at that time. Despite her genius it was hard enough for her to even be allowed to give lectures. Why haven't you mentioned Marie Curie instead? She had two kids and two Nobel prizes, so gotcha! And this has become much easier today with equal rights and day-care centers. In an equal partnership the family duties would be well-balanced."

He had calmed down a bit and licked his lip before he continued. "And finally… I myself had always been convinced I never needed anyone in my life; that relationships would only distract me from the pure path of knowledge. But… I'm not too proud to admit I've been wrong. Oh, it is a distraction all right, but I'm not losing any IQ points over it. If anything, at times I find myself even more focused. My mind is more challenged and intrigued by everything I never thought possible… If two people truly care about each other… there should be enough left over for a six-ounce Nobel medal and a twelve-pound toddler."

In a soft voice he finished, "Don't give up on us, Amy."

Amy couldn't help gawking at Sheldon's declaration for her. Oh yes, he had pontificated his way into her heart all over again.

Marion smiled at her. "Has this been convincing for you?"

Amy couldn't tear her gaze away from Sheldon whose eyes were still piercing hers. "Hoo," she managed to get out, not realizing she had been holding her breath. She cleared her throat and tried again, "It was indeed. Very much so," she finally answered. "I would be very much inclined to follow his appeal. But as I can finally have a say in it… I want you to know that giving up was never my intention, nor was this anything you needed to convince me of originally. "

The whole group was smiling now, happy for them, although they'd all just met each other that day. Sheldon was oblivious to that, his eyes were just fixed on Amy, and he seemed to have calmed down by her words. "Good," he finally said and sat back down next to her.

Amy was still shaken by his declaration and was glad the others continued now first with their speeches. At last she stood up as well to present her topic. "Uhm… I've thought of a tough one. You will be students humiliated by Sheldon, and I will be trying to convince you to continue with his lecture," she explained.

"Good luck with that," Marion said, turned on the camera and nodded, "And action!"

Amy looked into the round. "I know you're all upset and feel humiliated by the way Sheldon has been treating you in this first week of the semester – I would have been as well. I know he can be condescending, arrogant and self-absorbed, refusing to give you easy exercises or disseminate A grades all among you. But there's also another side of him you might get to know in due time," she continued, looking at Sheldon now with the hint of a smile.

"If you give him another chance, you will have the pleasure of being taught by one of the greatest minds of our century. It may not seem like it to you, but he is really trying," she winked at him secretly, and Sheldon's eyes widened as he understood she was hinting at their relationship as well.

Amy watched the other participants again. "You will become better students as much as he will become a better teacher. If you make an honest effort, he would go the extra bit to help you bridge the gap. And once you made the connections, you'll be better able to grasp not only the rest of the course, but also have an advantage for the rest of your academic careers. So while it may seem like a nightmare now, if you'll hang on for the ride, the end result will be worth the rough start of the journey. I know that getting a decent mark out of a tough prof satisfies more…" she glanced at Sheldon involuntarily, "than an excellent mark from a prof who hands out As." She paused for a moment, smiling as she had another idea.

"And if you have a genuine idea, he'll have the cutest little kitten sticker for you. So all I'm asking you is not to give up yet. In Latin, student means fervor and endeavor. Let's see this side of you and come to the lecture next week again."

Sheldon was finally smiling again that she chose him as her topic, patient as always and supporting him, quirks and all. She'd really deserve one of his 'meow' stickers later…

"Very good, your sentences are shorter this time, and even I'd think about giving him another try," Marion praised. "You'll all see yourselves in the film now, and then we can discuss some more if you like."

They watched the films together, also discussing their body language and getting helpful hints from Marion. Despite all their fun with flags episodes it was quite an eye-opener for Sheldon to watch himself. He was rather embarrassed by his public display of affection and didn't remember being that passionate… Was that how Amy perceived him, too? He secretly glanced at her, and she gave him a reassuring smile.

* * *

**A/N1:** I hope you liked the camera exercise... next one will be about quick-wittedness. Unfortunately I have to do my taxes on the weekend, so I'm not sure if I'll manage to post the next chapter on Monday, you might have to wait until Tuesday... Have a nice weekend everyone!

**A/N2:** Thank you so much IDICGlyph for telling me much more arguments that Amy could have said to convince the students to continue with Sheldon's lecture! I have included them now retrospectively here.


	5. Quick replies

**A/N:** Thank you again for all your kind reviews, it makes me so happy that you're enjoying this little story! And many thanks to my dear beta, Hazelra7! And thanks to IDICGlyph, I've added some more arguments to Amy's speech at the end of the previous chapter.

* * *

"For our final exercise we we'll do some countering," Marion explained. "I'm sure all of you have experienced a situation in which you had wished for some witty reply. Well, I can't teach you quick-wittedness and how to find the perfect answer in a millisecond. That's all your personality and spontaneity, and I can't and don't want to change that. But I can tell you that you don't have to respond with words at all. As soon as you try to defend yourself, you've already lost. And when you then can't come up with anything, you get into panic mode and it only gets worse." She looked into the round, and the nodding of heads confirmed her speech.

"So I will give you now three simple possibilities. Ignore it completely. Or look at them in mockery. Or reply with a bored 'Oh, really?'. Let's try it out. I will go around insulting you, and you will choose one of these three ways to react."

When she came around to Sheldon, she said, "Your t-shirt is ridiculous!", and Sheldon gave her his patented look of haughty derision.

"Very well," she praised. "I'd guess you've done that before."

"Plenty of times. But it's still not very satisfactory to lack an answer," Sheldon said.

"I can understand this, but you just shouldn't let them pressure you. It's not worth it," Marion explained.

Then she looked at Amy. "That's the most boring haircut I've ever seen!"

"Oh, really?" Amy said in a bored tone and began to twirl a strand of hair around her fingers, making Sheldon gulp.

"You're doing great," Marion beamed at them.

While she continued with the others, Sheldon leaned over and whispered to Amy, "Is it really ridiculous?" They had been sitting together since the introductions.

"No! Sheldon, she was just making fun. I like your style," she whispered back.

"And I like your hair," he whispered.

"I know," she grinned, knowing that he loved that Han Solo quote.

Marion was already explaining some more. "Another possibility is just to ask back why they are saying that, or to pick up the insult and make something else out of it, it can even be nonsense and totally unrelated. Do you have any examples for me where we could try to do that?" She looked around to see eyes evading her and finding their tables and pens suddenly to be most interesting.

"You don't need to be embarrassed. I will start with an example myself. When I was younger, an elderly guy at a conference once told me, 'I don't think at your age you'll be able to contribute to this topic.' And I didn't know a reply then. Today, I would pick up the insult, namely my age, and twist it around to use it against him: 'And at your age, you'd probably already have forgotten what the topic was about'."

She smiled at them. "Come on, tell me something, and we'll find a reply together." She looked at Sheldon, "You've got an eidetic memory. You can't tell me you don't remember anything."

"Oh, I do all too well. I'm just thinking of which one to use… Alright. Once, my pants were stolen on a train trip, and the police officer greeted me with 'Hey, chicken legs'."

Marion thought, "Well, do you like chicken soup?"

"I do, but normally when I'm sick only," Sheldon answered.

"Perfect, then tell him that," Marion smiled.

"Okay… I'd love to have some chicken soup now, because you made me feel sick," he said.

"Great! Just pick up the insult and turn it around! Anyone else? Amy?" Marion continued.

Amy felt really shy now, because she was thinking back to all these times at school when she was bullied by the other kids. There was one particularly mean phrase they had loved to use. She began haltingly, "When I was… back at school… the kids loved to sing… 'Amy fat-ass fowl-head'… because my name is Amy Farrah Fowler… and that was just so much fun with the rhyme," she finished in a toneless voice.

"I am sorry, Honey. Kids can be really the worst," Marion said sympathetically.

Sheldon had turned pale at her words. He knew those bullies all too well himself, but this one Amy hadn't told him yet. He clenched his jaw, and his knuckles turned white in his fists.

"That's preposterous," he exclaimed. "I've heard plenty of malarkey over the years, but this tops it all!" He looked at Amy lovingly who shot him a weak smile. "Just look at this cute little lump of wool! There's nothing fowl about her, she has the softest and smoothest hair! And her ample posterior is just perfect! People are so stupid to put all those skinny, fake-blondes on a pedestal," he finished his rant, suddenly aware of all their eyes staring at him, and Amy blushing tremendously, trying to bit back a smile.

"Well," Marion grinned. "I would propose you take Sheldon to your next high school reunion, then you'll have nothing to worry about."

"I… I'll think about it," Amy said meekly, still shocked by his outburst, but thrilled that he had been defending her.

* * *

At the end of the seminar, while the others were leaving, Marion asked, "Amy, Sheldon, do you have a moment right now?"

"Yes?" Amy said.

"Well, I've experienced a lot doing these seminars, but you two are really the most peculiar couple I've ever had the pleasure to work with."

"We're not…" Sheldon started, and "Alright," Amy said at the same time, then they looked at each other, wondering why the other had answered in that way.

"Oh, please," Marion smiled at Sheldon. "I'm observing people for a living, and that was an easy one, especially after your love declaration on camera, Sheldon! Hadn't you noticed the whole room swooning over it? Just out of curiosity, how long have the two of you been together?"

"Nearly five years now," Amy smiled as Sheldon took her hand, glad that he seemed to be allowed to touch her now. "Please excuse our ruse… but I really needed to convince Sheldon to come to this seminar."

"I bet you did," Marion smiled. "I hope you could both learn something useful here today."

"We did indeed," they said in unison, looking at each other.

"Yes, I got that," Marion smiled even broader. "I mean, professionally."

"Oh. I will use shorter sentences in my presentations and make sure to have picked up everyone in the audience," Amy said.

"And I will try to bother about the students and give them at least a chance to demonstrate they're not as worthless as I assumed, until they will prove me wrong," Sheldon explained.

Amy looked at him with raised brows and pursed lips.

"And I will put that in softer words," he concluded.

"I'm always glad to get the feedback that it wasn't a waste of time and could indeed be helpful to you," Marion said. "Ah, just another thing: Normally people get really nervous around a camera, but for you two it didn't seem to be a big deal. Have you done this before?"

"Normally I hate talking in front of an audience. But… I've had other things on my mind than to wonder about that camera earlier," Sheldon said sheepishly.

"And we've been hosting our own infotainment internet show called "Fun with Flags" with a total of 232 episodes," Amy quickly explained to get back on safer ground.

"Oh yes, it's been a great success! People were devastated when we had to end it!" Sheldon chimed in enthusiastically. "And it would have been 233 if Amy had pressed record on the Fourth of July special," he couldn't help nitpicking.

"You already promised twice you weren't gonna bring that up again," Amy scolded.

"Well, you haven't apologized 4000 times yet for each of the dominos I set up." Sheldon pouted.

"If you bring this up once again, I'll make you set up even more dominos and have you put them all away before being able to hit them," she told him sternly.

"What I didn't mention this morning during the introductions was his compulsive need for closure. But we've been working on it," she explained to Marion, then turned back to Sheldon. "And I know you cheated last time, 'cause I called Penny to check on you, and she told me," Amy finished.

Sheldon gulped, looking at Marion to change the topic. "Uhm… We also did an application video together to colonize Mars," he said.

"Okay… well good luck with that," Marion smiled.

Amy was suddenly fidgeting around, "Marion," she said, looking at Sheldon, "Might I ask if it were possible for you to send me that video of Sheldon… uhm convincing me? Just to make sure that I haven't dreamt it," she finished shyly, casting her eyes down.

"Oh, no problem. You've got your laptops here, I'll just connect the camera and transfer it to you."

"Thank you so much, it means a lot to me," Amy said, finally daring to look at Sheldon.

He stood there, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Then he said, "And while you're at it, I'd like to have the video of Amy as well… as a help for my lectures of course."

After having copied the films to their laptops, it was time for departure. "Now you two have a nice weekend, you've earned it!" Marion wished them.

"You too!" Amy answered.

"Thank you, we will," Sheldon said, smiling at Amy.

On their way out of the seminar room, Amy looked up at him. "I'm so glad we did this seminar together, Sheldon. Thank you for coming with me. And… thank you for your opinion on combining work and family. I know we're not ready for that yet… but I'm glad you think about it that way."

"It's a possibility… You know I prefer to preserve things as they are, but earlier, when I really thought you were serious about never wanting us to have that… that you just saw me as a distraction… I didn't like that at all. I definitely need to get a better understanding on whether people make fun or not. I thought I could read you better, but you were very convincing," he explained.

Amy smiled back at him. "Oh, you definitely distract me… and I love it. And thank you for complementing me when I brought up that horrible example of my school bullies."

Sheldon shrugged his shoulders. "It's not a compliment, it's the truth." He looked at her thoughtfully then. "You know, the second time I blew out the candles that day with the dominos… I wished you were there."

"Well, I'm here now. Let's make the best of it," she grinned, clapped his butt and made a bee-line for the staircase before he could catch her.

* * *

**A/N:** "Amy fat-ass fowl-head": Does anyone know in which story that was mentioned? I really wanted to ask the author before using it, but I couldn't find it anymore. But I couldn't come up with anything better, this was just perfect to use here now. If you know where this can be found, please tell me so that I can reference it here. Btw, the "pedestal" is borrowed from "The Fight Aftermath" by tthomas77, read her story, it's great!

So the seminar is over, but not the story. I will post the next chapter with some Lenny reactions on Wednesday. Until then, good luck to us all with Schrödinger's finale!


	6. Liar, liar, pants on fire

**A/N : **Thank you Hazelra7 for beta-reading!

* * *

It was Friday afternoon – or prevening as Sheldon called it – and the seminar was over. It didn't make much sense to head to work now for just about an hour before calling it a week, so Amy and Sheldon decided to go to 4A to spend some time together before Leonard would be home.

They were preparing tea. Amy was helping him getting all the ingredients from the different cupboards and shelves. While he was enjoying watching her, it struck Sheldon how much at ease she knew her way around in his kitchen, and more so, how much he liked it.

"Have you thought about it already?" He asked her bluntly.

"Have I thought about what?" She repeated confused.

"What I asked you this morning," Sheldon replied.

"Well, that was one rollercoaster of a day, and you asked me a great deal of questions during the seminar, which one are you referring to now?" Amy asked, still wondering what he was up to now.

"To the one you said you needed to think about," he tried to clarify further.

"Sheldon, not everyone around you has an eidetic memory, and… oh." She stopped, as the realization suddenly hit her. He had brought up the topic of living together on his own volition! Okay, to be honest, he hadn't asked her directly to move in with him earlier, he had _just_ said that she could apply as well when he would be looking for a new roommate _at some point in the future_. For Sheldon, that was huge. But she didn't want to get her hopes up, so she'd dismissed it and said she'd think about it.

"Sheldon, I've been burnt too many times with that topic – if it even is what I think it is. I'm not gonna jump to hasty conclusions here. Tell me what exactly you wanted to know." Amy didn't want to tease him, she really needed the confirmation.

Sheldon looked at her longingly. "Have you considered… moving in with me? I mean, not right now… there has to be some order and structure and testing time… we'd need a whole new agreement, that's a lot of work… and I'm truly sorry about how I've been treating that topic in the past," he finished meekly.

Suddenly Amy flung herself into his arms, kissing him eagerly. He didn't see that coming, but didn't hesitate to reciprocate. When they came up for air, Amy grinning at him, he smiled at her and asked, "I'm really not the best with body language… does that mean you would agree?"

"I would, indeed," she beamed at him. "We could do it gradually just like you do with Leonard moving out… start with two days a week… that's what we're doing anyway with the sleepovers."

"Oh," Sheldon replied. That's not exactly what he had in mind. "Uhm… Since it's Friday now, and the sleepovers are on Thursday and Saturday, I've been thinking about three days in a row… it would just make sense, there'd be less running to and fro between our apartments… it simply preserves time and energy…"

"You're really serious?" She asked, and he nodded. "Sheldon, I'd love that! …But we need to tell Penny and Leonard."

"You're right. I should have given him a note 24 hours in advance… but neither did he all these times. I'm sure they've guessed already what we've been… up to the last weeks," he answered sheepishly. "Let the jokes begin," he sighed in a self-deprecating manner.

"I don't think they would make fun of us… I hope. They're our friends," Amy tried to calm him.

"Exactly," he muttered.

* * *

Leonard and Penny entered the apartment a while later. Amy and Sheldon had just finished their tea.

"Oh good, you're here! We've got some exciting news to tell you," Sheldon said, smiling at Amy and taking her hand while they moved from the kitchen counter to meet them.

"Okay, let me guess," Penny answered. "You will try to get another turtle?"

"We will, but that's another topic," Amy answered, smiling back at Sheldon.

"It's even better: We will be living together, as a trial period only on date nights and weekends, for starters," Sheldon explained.

"I thought you were doing that already," Leonard answered unimpressed.

"No, Sweetie, they're talking about three days in a row now, that's already half the time!" At least Penny was more excited.

"Penny. Three divided by seven is merely 42.9 percent of the time," Sheldon explained. "And Leonard, you might want to buy your own noise-cancelling headphones," he continued, causing Amy to blush.

"Oh sure, like I would ever need them… no offense, Amy," Leonard replied sarcastically and went to the fridge to get something to drink. Penny followed him to the counter.

"Just because we've been… very discreet… doesn't mean it will stay like that forever. We just wanted to give you a heads-up," Amy explained patiently, kind of expecting Penny to freak out. She had been dying to tell her on girl's night about their progress, but had restrained herself, not wanting to have Sheldon humiliated by the guy's jokes.

Penny, however, was not impressed. She just grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and put them on the counter.

"I know what this is," Leonard said, filling in some water for Penny and him. "You're doing your little experiments on us again!"

"I assure you that we've been intimate for a while now," Sheldon said, placing his arm around Amy's shoulder and pulling her closer to him.

"Hey, you're getting better at this, buddy," Leonard grinned and took a sip from his glass. "I didn't see any twitching in your face at all!"

"That's because it's the truth," Sheldon said exasperated.

"Yeah, right, just like your herb garden rumors," Penny exclaimed. "Aloof, but effective, right? Why don't you give us some coins to sort while you're at it?"

"I can assure you there's nothing aloof about it… more like whimsically inventive, I dare say," Amy leered at Sheldon, making him blush now.

"Sure, fine, whatever. Hey, we're just heading out to get our Chinese food. You'll want your usual orders, I assume?" Leonard asked.

Sheldon just nodded wearily, and Amy answered, "Tangerine chicken for me as well, please."

"Got it, see you later," Penny said, putting the empty glasses in the sink; and they left.

* * *

"I don't believe they don't believe us," Amy said, shaking her head at this turn of events on their great announcement.

"I know… and even worse, we might probably starve to death since Penny took our order," Sheldon complained.

"Hey, good one, you were funny on purpose," Amy laughed.

"Actually, I wasn't," Sheldon replied. "Hmm… We don't seem to be really convincing, despite after all we've learned today… We might have lied to them too often. What else could we do?" he wondered.

"I don't know," Amy shook her head again. "We could be doing it right here in your spot and they would still think we just faked it," she grinned.

"Hmm…" Sheldon pondered, eyeing her up and down, resting his chin on his thumb and forefinger.

"Oh no, that was just me trying to make a joke… you're not thinking _that_…" Amy started.

"Hmm…" He resumed and licked his lips, looking into her eyes very calmly.

"You… you can't truly be thinking that!" Amy was terrified of getting caught… on purpose, even! But at the same time she was strangely thrilled by this idea – and by the seductive humming sounds he was making… and the way he was staring at her intensely now.

"C'mere…" He hugged her close to him in front of the couch, nuzzling his nose in her hair to inhale her scent.

"Sheldon, I'm not getting naked here!" Amy exclaimed, but started to hug him back. He just smelled too good, there was nothing she could do.

"Too bad… but not necessarily needed…" His husky voice was sending tremors down to her belly.

He sat down in his spot, taking her with him so that she was straddling him, her skirt riding up on her thighs. With Amy in his lap, they had the perfect angle for kissing, no need to bend down, he mused. Then his mouth was on hers, his tongue prying open her lips to be granted entry. She welcomed him with her own, sliding up against him as their breaths mingled with the sweet smell of peppermint tea and honey they had just shared. As if they had a mind of their own, her hips were grinding down on him, delighted by the torturous friction from the growing bulge in his pants between them.

In the meantime, Sheldon had unbuttoned her cardigan, and she shrugged it off, tossing it over to the armchair. They were kissing passionately again and Amy began to stroke him through his pants.

He bucked his hips against her, but he was getting too excited already and needed to calm down. "Whoa, whoa, no hurry… let's take it slow… we've got all the time in the world," he groaned.

"Are you sure… you wanna stay here? You're really serious about that?" Amy asked breathily.

"I am. And I can be very… patient… to prove a point," he whispered into her ear and softly bit her earlobe.

"Dear Lord, I'm in serious trouble now…" Amy began to moan softly as she felt his hot breath on her neck and his mouth on her skin; he knew exactly which spots were driving her crazy.

"You're just now realizing that?" He began to unbutton her blouse.

Amy was writhing against him in his lap. "Sheldon… I want you so badly… but I'm not getting naked here…"

"Shh… I know that… we'll keep it on… but I need to feel your skin…"

"Then let's start with you, Dr. Cooper," she said, pulling both his shirts up over his head.

They melted together in a tight embrace, reveling in the sensation of her bare belly pressed against his own. They kissed again, delicately stroking each other's skin, while Amy grounded her hips against him more and more urgently.

"I don't care if they'll catch us… I need you inside me… now!" Amy panted. Her heart was beating so fast now, and her eyes were already half-lidded with desire.

"That's the spirit," Sheldon said hoarsely.

Amy got up to remove her panties in a frenzy and kicked off her shoes. Sheldon unzipped his pants but kept them on so that just his erection sprung free. Amy hurried to climb back onto his lap, hiking up her skirt to take him all in. They both moaned when they were finally joined, both their eyes closing in pleasure at the contact.

Sheldon held her hips while they began to move in long, slow strokes. Their lips met again, their tongues playing lazily with each other. Amy's hands were stroking through his hair while they kissed. She loved the feeling of his short-cropped strands of hair gliding through her fingers. Sheldon's hands were caressing her posterior and holding her in place. They wanted to make it last and enjoy the special bond they shared.

And that's how Leonard and Penny found them. They came back some time later, finding Amy straddling a half-naked Sheldon in his spot, his hair messed up like sex on a stick, her cardigan carelessly thrown over the armchair next to his shirts and her orthopedic shoes tossed to the floor. Her arms were around his neck now, her blouse unbuttoned and wrinkled, pulled out of her skirt. Her skirt, albeit still on, had ridden up her thighs and was now only scarcely covering her bare legs. They were kissing each other leisurely while she was slowly gyrating her hips on him with his hands gripping her bottom. Amy didn't even care anymore about the interruption at this point.

"I can't believe I forgot my wallet here," Leonard said. Then he spotted them on the couch. "Hey guys… the joke's getting old, give it a rest," he said, taking Penny's hand who just shook her head as they left again.

Sheldon smirked as he heard Penny asking, "Has he been secretly working out?" And Leonard replied, "Phew, this is Sheldon we're talking about!"

"Told you so." Amy's sonorous voice was vibrating near his ear.

"I knew… we should have… removed our clothes," Sheldon panted. As he started to push back into her more forcefully she could only moan in response.

They had been going like this for quite some time now, their feelings intensifying slowly, but steadily. However, all this built-up was going to channel into some form of release soon, and they were both reaching a point of no return. Their kiss became more urgent and passionate and their lovemaking faster and more erratic.

When Sheldon sensed he couldn't take much more, he reached down between them, pressing on the swollen nub between her legs in tiny circles, and bent his head towards her neck, sucking on her cervical artery. And so they were flying off together over the edge, their cries of pleasure muffled by their kiss as they slowly came back down to earth holding each other tightly, spent and satisfied.

* * *

**A/N:** Queenfisher posted in the forums the following idea: "_I'd like to see a Shamy plot where the Shamy announces the news of them having sex to people but everyone won't believe them and the Shamy just shrug their shoulders and continue having sex unintentionally in secret._" I used this great idea for this chapter, I hope it's ok with you!


	7. Lessons learned

**A/N : **Many thanks again to the great Hazelra7 for beta-reading! And sorry for the late update because I had planned to do it on Friday... but my head is still spinning with the recent taping... so here you go, no spoilers in here.

* * *

Later that evening Penny and Leonard had come back with their dinner. Amy and Sheldon had cleaned up in the meantime and had decided to just carry on with their new-found intimacy without making any special efforts to hide it, if they weren't believed anyway. They even started to feed each other little pieces of their food, and at one point Amy had licked off a dollop of china sauce from Sheldon's finger, but it just earned them an eye-roll from Leonard at their seemingly exaggerated displays of affection – which Sheldon told him he saw.

When they had finished their dinner together, Amy turned to Penny and Leonard. "I don't want to sound impolite, but will you head over to Penny's soon? It's just that my hunger for Sheldon is stirring in my loins."

Sheldon looked at her intrigued, "Oh, again? You are insatiable today."

"Oh, don't play coy, Dr. Cooper. I've promised myself some time ago that I would put your love of repetition to good use one day…"

Leonard had no interest at all in hearing anything more about that. He stood up, taking Penny's hand. "Well, I must say you're really persistent with keeping up that ruse. But there's no need to put up any more mental images for me tonight. It's getting late anyway, we'll be heading over now, right, Penny?"

"Alright, Sweetie. And you guys have fun, don't do anything we wouldn't do," Penny grinned, shaking her head at their tomfoolery. Well, if they could joke about it, perhaps there was still hope for them after all, she thought.

Amy and Sheldon were sitting on the couch together after they had left, simply enjoying each other's company. "They still don't believe us, do they?" Sheldon asked.

"No, they don't," Amy confirmed. Then she bit her lip and looked at him shyly through her eyelashes. "Do _you_ believe me what I told them?"

"Oh I was hoping that wasn't a joke. So I guessed right?" Sheldon's voice had already dropped an octave, imagining the implications of her words, while his eyes wouldn't leave hers.

"Mh-hmm…" Amy was slightly embarrassed at being so needy, but on the other hand he didn't seem to mind… and that sexy voice of his did indeed stir her loins… and they had enough to catch up on for the last years.

Sheldon was now looking longingly at her lips. But he still hadn't gotten his closure from earlier this morning. He needed to finish what they had been talking about when they had been interrupted by Marion for their introductions. And it kind matched their current topic of conversation as well…

He looked back into her eyes earnestly. "Amy. You know, earlier today, when you asked me why no girl was allowed in your room, and we talked about the first time you were alone in my room… when we played that D&amp;D game and that I wasn't ready then?"

"Yes?" Amy asked, hanging to every word coming from these thin, beckoning lips.

Sheldon started to fidget around in his spot, still gazing at her eyes, trying not to be distracted by her lips that were slightly parted in anticipation of what he might have to say. "There's more… I've been wanting to tell you… You said it uhm… kind of inspired your lonely nights… and I would have been running away if I knew about that…"

Amy nodded. "Well, you would have, at that time."

Sheldon looked down on his hands in his lap, strangely feeling more embarrassed alone with her now than earlier during their talk in the seminar. But he had been meaning to tell her for quite some time now. "Most likely… but what I didn't mention was… there has been nary a night I didn't think about you… in that way. And when you were in my room that second time at prom… although I still was in panic mode, I just couldn't trust myself having you lying on my bed dressed up like that," he waved his hands at her chest, "With all that cleavage and that tight dress…"

"Oh," was all Amy could answer with wide eyes and her hand covering her mouth. She'd had no idea her attire had affected him in _that_ way… she knew of course about his panic attack, but she was not aware he actually had to restrain himself then…

Sheldon studied her face again, a hint of a smile now on his mouth. "And then came the third time I let you in… I finally gathered my courage for our sleep-over in my room… and just like I imagined… you know what happened then." He licked his lips at the memory of the first time they made love about a month ago. Amy was thinking about it, too, fascinated by the way his tongue darted out of his mouth.

_They had been snuggled so close together in his bed, and it felt so good, and suddenly he knew Amy knew as well just how good it felt for him… and then, before he could run away, that vixen had made these tiny movements with her hips, and he was a goner. For once in his life he had actually stopped thinking and let instinct take over, and now that was imprinted forever in his eidetic memory… well, that and the other times that followed then… no wonder he couldn't think of much else lately!_

"And now part of me wishes to have you here all the time… and the other part is afraid again this is moving too fast…," Sheldon finished awkwardly, raising his eyebrows apologetically and biting his lip, anxious for her reaction.

Amy smiled at him after hearing his 'confession'. "Oh, Sheldon… I understand; we're not in a hurry. I'd just be happy if at some point you might not be afraid of us being together anymore. And today… I got the impression that you could indeed envision a future of us at all," she said.

Sheldon blinked. There were so many thoughts running through his head right now, he didn't really know where to start. "Amy. I'm not afraid of us being together," he said all of a sudden. Amy listened attentively, holding her breath, hoping he would continue, not daring to interrupt.

After a pause, he went on, "I'm more afraid of myself… how much I need you, how much I'm already depending on you… I never needed anyone that badly in my life."

He inhaled. "But I know I'm not easy to live with… with all my rules… I can be arrogant and self-absorbed… I mean, not that long ago I had been applying for Mars all on my own, how much more self-centered can it possibly get? And I'm scared you will be finally realizing this…"

"Sheldon, don't you think I know all this already? I love you, quirks and all, and I'm still with you. And I know how much you try for me… for us. We did the application together in the end after all, that's what counts for me," Amy calmed him.

"I'm glad we did. Barely a year ago you had me running to the hills in panic, but now… I'm getting so used to having you around; I can't even begin to think what I would do without you anymore. It's still scary for me to think of all these possibilities. But lately I can't even keep my hands off you, and I used to hate touching people…. I still do, but you're the exception, in so many things… I feel so addicted to you… and so vulnerable at the same time. You even got me intrigued with starting a Martian family," he smiled at her.

"Does it have to be Mars?" Amy asked cautiously.

Sheldon thought for a moment. _'A little Amy would be cute, indeed, someday… Although then there would be two of them having my head spinning…'_ – "No, it doesn't," he said. "And I'm glad you didn't really believe earlier in the seminar that a career and a family would be mutually exclusive."

"Oh yes, you were very convincing with your argumentation. And… hypothetically… if you got me pregnant, at least Leonard and Penny might start to believe us then," Amy grinned.

"Is this just about proving a point for you?" Sheldon asked confused and hurt.

"Of course not," Amy replied, slightly taken aback by his question. "You're the one who loves to prove points. Again, what are you thinking of me?"

"Uhm… Right now, the cognitive functions still operating are telling me you are the most stunningly beautiful creature I ever had or will have the pleasure to behold… My hind brain, however, is struggling to get in control and claim what's mine," he finished, eyeing her up and down hungrily.

"Oh… Well I like both parts of your brain… What about trying out your favorite position, as I learned today?" She took his hand, stood up from the couch and began moving towards the bathroom, making sure she was in front of him so that he could get a good view of her swaying hips on the way.

Sheldon hurried after her, enjoying the view. When he finally reached her in the bathroom, she was already wiggling out of her blouse.

"Let me help you with that," he said huskily, and as he slowly dropped her blouse, he placed kisses on her shoulders and down her arms as they became exposed. As he pulled down her skirt next, kissing her thighs in the process, she shivered expectantly.

He gave her a sexy smile and unclasped her bra. Sitting down on the rim of the bathtub he pulled her close to him so that her breasts were in perfect view right in front of him. He cupped them gently and pulled them into his mouth, licking and softly sucking first on the one nipple, then the other. He loved to feel the soft texture of her skin, and two of his favorite spots were her nipples. He was always fascinated by how fast they could change and become rigid, in contrast to the soft, pliable skin around them.

Amy moaned softly, enjoying the feeling of his skilled tongue on her. Her head tilted back in bliss, she ran her fingers through his short-cropped hair. But she needed to feel more of him. She locked her eyes with him and began tugging his shirts up. He smiled and held up his hands to help her. Next came his pants and her panties as well, and then they stepped into the bathtub together.

Before he could even turn on the water, Amy stepped close to him and pulled his head down to her to kiss him open-mouthedly. Sheldon moaned at the full-body contact and slid his tongue into her mouth, dancing around hers eagerly.

Amy was thrilled to find him already semi-erect and getting harder by the minute. She grinded herself against him and felt a puddle of moisture gathering in her core. Soon their breaths were getting ragged, and they needed to come up for air.

Sheldon finally turned the shower on and checked for the right temperature before pulling her under the spray. He put some shampoo on his palms and began massaging her scalp. In the meantime, Amy had taken the soap and began leathering his chest. She took her time, moving her hands in large slow circles all over his torso.

Sheldon had started to rinse her hair, but was getting distracted as her wet soapy hands slowly moved down further and finally closed around his engorged member, working him up and down in firm strokes. He bucked his hips into her helplessly and kissed her hungrily again, shifting her into a corner until he had her pinned up against the wall tiles.

Afraid this would be over too soon if she continued at that pace, he crouched down to his knees, trailing hot kisses from her mouth to her neck, further down to her breasts, sucking on her hardened nipples again, and ever further down, moving over her soft belly, and still further down until he had her writhing in pleasure before he even reached his goal. He finally pulled her leg over his shoulder and looked up at her with that sexy smile again. Just that look alone had her swooning already, and then he pushed two fingers into her and simultaneously pressed his tongue against her swollen nub, licking and lapping and reveling in her taste just as he'd done this midday for the first time. She was so wet for him and tasted just as delicious as he remembered. Amy could only hold onto his shoulders for dear life and was moaning continuously now.

When he felt she was close to abandon, he straightened up again and kissed her deeply, letting her savoring her own flavor on his tongue. He pressed into her against the tiles, and Amy put her arms around his neck as he hiked her up, supporting her lush posterior with his hands as he sought entrance. She hooked her ankles behind his back, pulling him close as he sunk into her wetness, both of them moaning at the contact.

Just as they were so intimately joined, there was a knock on the door and it already opened.

"Sorry Sheldon, I just forgot my pill here, I'll be right out," Penny called, entering the bathroom.

"Penny, this is not a good time… I'm not alone here," Sheldon said out of breath, suppressing a moan as Amy clenched her walls tightly around him. _'Two can play this game,'_ he thought as he slowly retracted and then plunged back into her, raising his eyebrows at her with a sly grin at her shocked expression to his bravery as he repeated the movement, only separated by the thin shower curtain from getting caught.

"Okay, guys, it's great that you're so insisting on continuing your experiments, but please leave me out of it. I know you're just sharing a shower to reduce the water consumption. Now, where did I put this pill? I thought I had it here," Penny wondered and searched in the cabinet.

Amy, however, wanted to get back at Sheldon for trying to make her moan in front of Penny. With a sly grin of her own, she slid her legs back to the ground, making him slip out of her and hiss, then bite his lip in frustration at the loss of her heat around him. Amy kneeled down in front of him.

Sheldon's eyes became as large as saucers as he realized what she was about to do, and then his surprise changed into pure bliss as she closed her mouth around him and started sucking, only interrupted by swirling her tongue around his tip every now and then while her hand enclosed his base and gave him firm strokes where her mouth couldn't reach.

Sheldon's eyes had rolled back in his head, his hands pressed forcefully against the tiles in a desperate attempt to not make a sound. He was so close already and needed all his control not to come right there in her mouth. She knew just how to touch him to elicit the greatest amount of pleasure and continued to do so. But as that vixen even started to fondle his balls with the other hand while she sucked on him hard, he couldn't help whimpering anymore.

"Oh give it a rest! I'd bet you're not even touching. It's really not that funny anymore," Penny said in a bored tone. "Ah, there it is," she finally found what she was looking for and went for the door.

"If you say so… keep thinking that," Amy said in a deep sonorous voice, letting him pop out of her mouth just to lick him again afterwards, her hands still working on him.

"Weirdos," Penny muttered under her breath, grinning nonetheless at them – what she thought – fooling around with her while she started to move out.

Sheldon couldn't take it anymore. He was so far gone that he didn't even care that Penny hadn't yet closed the door properly. "You're gonna pay for this, little vixen," he groaned, pulled Amy up roughly and slammed her against the wall, hiking up her legs in a swift movement and impaling himself into her to the hilt.

"Ohh yesss… I hope so," Amy moaned and surrendered to his onslaught, her arms supporting herself wrapped around his neck, her ankles hooked behind his back and her hips trying to meet his thrusts desperately while her eyes rolled back in pure bliss. Sheldon captured her lips again, his tongue mimicking the movements of his hips, thrusting into her more forcefully now.

The fear of getting caught had left them both strangely excited, and they couldn't last any longer now. Their kiss muffled their cries as they climaxed in each other's arms, the warm water spray soothing their tautness. Amy's wobbly legs slid down to the ground again, and they stayed in their embrace, waiting for their heartbeats to return to normal and kissing each other leisurely until the water went cold.

They finally dried each other off and went to bed only clad in their towels which they tossed out after being snuggled close together. Sated and simply happy to have each other they drifted off to sleep with Sheldon spooned around Amy.

* * *

**A/N:** Just like in the last chapter, kudos to Queenfisher for her fun idea of no one believing that Shamy is having sex… And originally I wanted to end it here, but Hazelra7 convinced me that I should continue… the next chapters will go into a bit different direction, and I will update now only twice a week (Tue/Fri) because I still have some writing/editing to do…


	8. Lab results

**A/N: **Thank you so much Hazelra7 to take the time to read all my stuff and to tell me to carry on here… Thank you all again for your wonderful and supportive reviews! I hope you'll still like this part…

* * *

For this year's American Neuroscience Conference, Amy had been chosen to moderate a session about advances in multineuronal monitoring of brain activity which had been a great honor, and in another session she would give her own presentation about the effects of pleasure stimuli in starfish. Thus, two weeks after the seminar she attended with Sheldon, her entire focus was on the final preparations for the conference. She had worked long hours to not just present some preliminary results, but to have solid evidence to back up her theories. She blamed the fact that she was feeling more tired than usual on her work.

After the conference Amy was still feeling exhausted and didn't want to get out of bed. For this, however, Sheldon could be held fully responsible. That man wore her out, in a good way… so good… and it turned out he was a cuddler indeed and she just didn't want to leave his arms in the morning. And there had been further increases in their sleepovers, because after their recent agreement of three nights in a row from Thursday to Saturday night to be spent together in 4A, Sheldon was having problems sleeping without her.

One night he actually walked all the way to Glendale by himself since there was no bus going at 1 a.m. and those cabs with all their germs and possible weirdos driving them simply weren't safe… and he didn't want to explain to Leonard that he seemed to need Amy to get to sleep at all. He let himself into her apartment in the middle of the night and stripped to his t-shirt and briefs while he marveled at her sleeping beauty. Cautiously he snuggled close to her warmth, spooning up behind her with his hand on her hip and his nose nuzzled in her hair, inhaling her fragrance. He heard her sighing contently in her sleep while her legs entwined with his. He soon drifted off without even waking her.

This was about the positon in which Amy woke up the next morning. The only difference was that his arm had moved up, cupping her breast in his sleep, and something hard poking her bottom from behind. She had dreamed of him erotically caressing her and was delighted to find him actually there.

Amy grinned mischievously and decided to surprise him as well. Her nightgown had ridden up during her sleep, and cautiously to not wake him she slowly wiggled out of her panties. The next part was more difficult, but after some more wiggling she also managed to free him from his briefs without waking him. She was already aroused from her dream and got even more excited by feeling him poking at her entry from behind.

She moved her hand behind her, gently enclosing him and slowly guiding him into her slick folds. As she began to move against him, her fingers now circling her swollen nub, she felt his own fingers starting to play with her hardened nipple while he softly moaned, "Mhh, Amy", starting to push into her himself.

Suddenly his movements stopped, and she heard an "Uh-oh" in her ear. _'Guess who's awake now,'_ she thought. "Good morning, Cuddles," she smiled, holding his hand close to her breast before he could remove it and pressed back into him again, ensuring him that it was ok.

"Seems so, indeed," his rough, sleepy voice answered, and then she felt his hot breath on her neck before he sucked on that spot behind her ear and started to push into her more deliberately. They found their rhythm, spiraling higher and higher while his hand joined hers, circling and pressing down on her nub. Amy had been so ready for him when she woke up from her dream that it didn't take much more for her. The sensory overload of his teeth grazing her earlobe, his fingers circling her clit and being filled by him made her flying over the edge. She moaned his name and her walls clenched down on him forcefully, stirring his own release into her.

When he slipped out of her, she turned around in his arms, facing him finally with a smile, pressing a soft kiss on his lips. "May I ask to what I do owe the honor of your presence this fine morning? Not that I mind, of course," she asked him with a wink.

"Uhm… our sleepovers have become so… natural… that I started to miss you more and more when you weren't around," Sheldon explained sheepishly. "And… I couldn't sleep last night… then I decided to take a walk… and I sort of ended up here…" He shrugged his shoulders, bit his bottom lip and gave her a lop-sided smile.

"Hmm… we should definitely put the number of sleepovers on the agenda for our next relationship summit. After all, even the last increase with adding Friday night as well has not yet been approved by the committee… we still are on very shaky grounds here by continuing with it as if it had been sanctioned already," Amy proposed slyly, knowing all too well that the committee only consisted of both of them and they could do whatever pleased them, but Sheldon needed his rules and order.

Sheldon on the contrary furrowed his brow, as their summits took only place quarterly and the last one had been just a month ago. She couldn't really want to make him wait for two more months?

He had to come up with a plan, and fast. Suddenly his eyes lit up. "Or… provided that both parties agree… we might of course add an additional fourth sleepover at your place on, let's say Tuesday night like this one, for an extended trial phase until the next summit," he pointed out. Then he had another idea. "And while we're at it, we could subjoin optional additions in case of an acute sleep deprivation emergency. That would fall into the booboos and ouchies section and has to be treated with higher priority," he finished, proud of his genius again.

"If you insist… an extended probation period would certainly be a way to include it before our next summit. But be aware that it will come under rigorous scrutiny afterwards," Amy replied earnestly, trying to suppress a grin.

"I could live with that," Sheldon agreed nonchalantly and nuzzled his nose back into her hair to that she couldn't see his grin, relieved to have convinced her.

* * *

The next weeks were even more wonderful. Amy and Sheldon had finally decided to bring Guiseppe home with them and set up his terrarium in the back of the apartment where that hideous table had been for a while. A smaller terrarium went to Amy's to have a place for their turtle for their Tuesday sleepover. Amy had been so excited when Sheldon insisted to buy two of the more expensive glass containers that featured a connecting pathway so that the two tanks had the possibility to be connected to a larger one at some point in the future.

When she missed her period she started to get uneasy, because thinking back, she couldn't remember having it last month either. That must have been the time of the conference… As a biologist she knew of course that the menstrual cycle may be omitted in times of stress. But she didn't have any increased stress levels to account for this time. However, the implications of that weren't even a possibility. She had been taking the pill for years to regulate her cycle and ease the cramps and moodiness, and never in her life had she forgotten or delayed to take it at the appropriate time. The efficacy was 99.9 percent. She felt stupid even thinking about it… and she would never run to the pharmacy like Penny did regularly to get a pregnancy test!

But there was one thing she could do. On Sunday afternoon when she knew no one would be at work she went to the lab to do the test herself. It wasn't too hard to get the ingredients, being a genius in a biology department after all. And it was solely to ensure she didn't need to worry anymore – not that she did worry after all, of course. She pricked her finger with a needle and collected some drops of blood to check for elevated levels of the human chorionic gonadotropin hormone associated with increased cell growth. This test was simple and fast and… **positive**!

'_No, this couldn't be! There was no way in hell this could be what more romantically inclined people might refer to as undeniable proof of their love growing in her belly?'_ Amy thought and just sat there for several minutes, staring at the result, trying to get her breathing under control, her mind gone completely blank.

When she came around from her stupor, she needed to get a second result; perhaps she'd done a mistake? She had only done the qualitative test, but with more elaboration on a second sample she could do a quantitative analysis and determine the exact value of the hCG concentration in her blood – and then she could even do the back calculation to determine exactly when it had happened – if the second test confirmed her preliminary results at all – which it wouldn't of course.

First of all, she was a scientist. One that knew one should never be too hasty with jumping to conclusions over one's findings. After all, she could have had a germ cell tumor, that would be another perfectly logical explanation for the hCG increase. For a moment she wasn't really sure which explanation would be preferable. But at least she'd made up her mind and started to work on the qualitative analysis. As long as she was doing the preparations everything was fine, she was in business mode. But then she had to wait for at least half an hour to get reliable results. That seemed to be the longest half an hour of her life. She couldn't just sit there and watch the sample, so she went for a walk to distract herself. But she was on autopilot, not even recognizing where she was going. Suddenly she was standing in front of the physics building without any idea how she had gotten there. She hastily turned around and went back into her lab.

'_Now, do some calculations… 17.400 mIU/ml? Breathe… get yourself together… don't confuse the digital places,' _she chided herself._ 'Double-check the units… look up the tables again with the reference values… still the same… Oh. Dear. Lord.'_

If she hadn't been sitting already, she'd be on the floor by now. Hypothetically spoken, _if _she were pregnant, that would mean she was already in the seventh week since her last menstrual period… and that would narrow the time of conception down to around the weekend of their seminar… it would make sense, that had been her fertile time of the month… and they had been very active that day… She blushed, thinking back… it could have happened in his office… or in his spot later that evening… or in the shower after that… or the next morning after they'd awoken… Was there any place they hadn't done it that weekend? They literally had been like wild animals in heat and still couldn't get enough of each other. She smiled; recalling how pleasurable her life had become lately… it was totally worth the wait…

Then she became aware of a stinging around her nose and eyes, and suddenly she sobbed and started to shake from tears. It would all be over now. As soon as she would tell Sheldon, he'd be gone for good this time, and all she would have left were her memories. How could she ever tell him? How could she bring up that? Perhaps with enough time she might come up with a humorous way to mention it, and they would share a good laugh before he would proclaim his love for her again. Oh sure, like there was any universe in which _that_ would happen…

She briefly considered running away – after all, that's what she learned from Sheldon: Running away from your problems did help. He got promoted as a reward and they were getting closer, so it all worked out for the best. But they had talked it through, and that was not how they were doing it anymore. The question was… would he still remember that, too, if she told him the news?

Amy could see it all clearly before her: This would be the master freak-out from which all other freak-outs could watch in awe and take notes. He would think she had tricked him into fatherhood by deliberately not taking the pill, no matter how often she would try to convince him of her exact schedule and that she didn't take that lightly and would never do such a thing to him. And then he would be gone and she would raise their child alone.

Tears were running down her cheeks as she envisioned her future as a single parent, trying to explain to her child why Daddy couldn't stay with them… that he was very special and loved them in his own way, but that he was simply overwhelmed and they were all better off on their own… She sobbed again, giving in to her despair.

She heard steps outside and the jingle of keys… must be the janitor checking on the building. She quickly wiped away her tears and turned around so that her back was facing the door. She had to get herself together! She needed a plan; she had to work it all out somehow… The door opened, and she had a brief vision of Sheldon entering and taking her into his arms… But it was the janitor of course. She greeted him shortly, seemingly engrossed in her work, mumbling about having to finish something this weekend, and he wished her a nice weekend nonetheless and continued on his route.

Amy knew the hCG levels grew exponentially after conception and implantation of the ovum. So before panicking further she needed to be patient and confirm her findings. She was the goddess of patience after all… If she checked again in two days and the values had doubled then… well then that would rule out the cancer hypothesis – yeah right, as if that was an option at all… but she needed to clutch at straws, even with such horrible alternatives. And then it would still be time to think of what to do next… With shaking hands she put back the equipment, cleaning up carefully to not leave any traces of what she was doing there.

* * *

The following week went by in a blur. Amy tried to concentrate on work, but her heart was not in it. On Tuesday evening she repeated the test after having waited for the lab assistants to leave. She just sat there in front of the sample, staring blankly into space for half an hour until she could get the results. 29.700 mIU/ml. Yep, just like she feared, it had about doubled.

Amy had told Sheldon a new project had come up – _oh boy had it indeed _– needing her to work late that week. The truth was, she didn't know how to face him, what to say, whether to say anything at all… She even tried to postpone their sleepover, but Sheldon insisted – after all it had found its way into the relationship agreement, and that was binding – at least pending further notice until their next relationship summit. Also Guiseppe had been giddy with excitement all week for their sleepover, and Mommy and Daddy couldn't disappoint him, could they? At any other time she would have been thrilled about his persistence once he had set his mind to something and how he talked about the little turtle like they were a family... but now it hurt even more when she thought about his upcoming rejection. They compromised that he would come over at 10 p.m., just for sleeping, and didn't schedule any additional sleepovers this week until date night on Thursday.

But this couldn't go on like this, she needed to talk to him – she just didn't want to lose him yet. To stall some more, she made an appointment with her gynecologist for Friday morning. Perhaps there was still some mistake like expired chemicals in her lab that led to unreliable results. It made no sense to bring it up too early in case she was wrong after all. On Friday she would get the definite undeniable proof – one way or the other, and that was still early enough to tell him.

On Thursday, Amy had prepared everything perfectly for date night to remember him and their happy times for one last time. She had cooked spaghetti with little pieces of hot dog, mixed up strawberry quik made of syrup and watched Serenity with him. Then they had made love, sweet and tenderly. Her breasts had felt strained and more sensitive, but Sheldon had worshipped her, slow and sensually. He had been so gentle, picking up on her soft moans, intuitively knowing just how to touch her and making her fall in love with him all over again. Amy tried to memorize it all and silently cried herself to sleep afterwards when he had fallen asleep curled around her.

On Friday morning, her gynecologist congratulated her. Her embryo was already half an inch in size, like a kidney bean, all was well, and as she was already in the eighth week, they could even see the heartbeats, strong and fast… Amy had just nodded, feeling detached from her body as if she was just watching the scene from the outside. She had been in a complete haze, robotically taking the printout of the ultrasound image and driving to work on autopilot.

* * *

Friday night was girl's night this week. Amy had thought of not going first, but then everyone would just have been curious or worried; and even though it was now regular sleepover time she didn't want to use up too much of Sheldon's alone fun time, although he would have plenty of that soon again…

Amy met Bernadette on the stairwell, and they entered 4B together. Penny was just getting the wine from the fridge and putting three glasses on the table. Amy gulped. "No wine for me please… I'm not feeling so well, I might have caught a cold… or something… " She tried to look serene and earnest and put her palms up in front of her as if carrying a tray to underline the truth, and the girls might have picked up on her attempts at lying – if there hadn't been Bernadette already bursting about telling some news of her own.

"Neither for me, and also not for the coming nine months," Bernadette squeaked in an even higher-pitched voice than usual. Penny screamed in excitement and they hugged and laughed. They didn't notice Amy had stumbled to sit down on the couch, turning rigid and pale, not saying a word.

"Oh my god, that's so awesome! How long have you known?" Penny exclaimed.

"I did the test this morning with Howie. I think he was even more excited than me! We still have to see the doctor, though, but I'm sure everything will be fine." Bernadette was beaming.

Amy had begun to cry silently when Bernadette continued to talk about how happy Howard had been. She was now even more terrified about how Sheldon would take the news. Their reactions couldn't possibly be more different…

Bernadette was still talking, "And with the house, we do have the space now, so we just thought we'd give it a try… and it was really like first shot scored!"

As they heard a sob, they finally looked at Amy, seeing tears running down her face. Amy quickly blew her nose, mumbling something to the ladies about tears of joy.

"Oh, Sweetie," Penny said; now also embracing Amy, thinking she understood. "You'll never know… perhaps even Sheldon might be ready for that sometime…"

"I really don't think so," Amy mumbled. Penny didn't know how close to the core her statement had been, because no one believed them that they were even having sex!

"You'll never know," Bernadette chimed in. "I never wanted kids, but lately things changed. It just felt right all of a sudden…"

"Tell that to Dr. Homeostasis," Amy said quietly, shaking her head.

"But you've made great progress! He even kisses you now; he's gotten much more accustomed to having you around with all your sleepovers. Perhaps he'll even start to touch you more… and you two have a turtle!" Penny tried to soothe her.

"We've got so much more than that… but you wouldn't believe it anyway," Amy muttered under her breath. And she needed to tell Sheldon first. Louder she said, "Well, this is about Bernadette today, don't bother about me, I'm sorry. I am so happy for you guys," she finished, trying to put up a smile. They talked some more about all the preparations Bernadette would be planning while Amy kept very quiet like she was in the zone.

* * *

After girl's night, Amy headed over to have tea with Sheldon as usual. She was extremely nervous now, fidgeting around with the tea bags, nearly burning her fingers with the tea pot. When they were seated on the couch, she told him the news of Bernie's pregnancy; it was a good reference to start with. Then she held her breath, gauging for his reaction.

"Well, good for her, but none of my concern," Sheldon said in a bored voice, stirring his tea to help it cool off faster.

This had not started too well. She bit her lip. "Sheldon… you know how uhm… we never used any condoms?" She began haltingly, holding her tea cup close to her chest like a shield.

"Of course, how could I have missed that? We know each other's medical records, there's no possibility of getting an STD, and you're taking the pill which has an efficacy of 99.9 percent. Why do you ask?" He said, taking a sip of his tea.

"I… I just want you to do some math that's more advanced than three… uhm three frogs… with one of them hopping away," Amy continued, thinking of something completely different than frogs hopping away soon. She tried to relax her fingers on the warm mug which were slightly shivering from the tension she felt. "As you are familiar with my menstrual cycle… can you calculate how often have we made love during ovulation?"

"Amy, I can calculate everything. And you know we do this all the time since you are so insatiable," he said smugly, leering at her as he thought about making love to her again.

She gave him a weak smile. "I am? Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Uhm… alright, **we are**," he confirmed, wiggling his eyebrows at her, clearly enjoying the course their talk was taking right now.

Amy finally gathered all her courage to show him the ultrasonic scan she got this morning. She held her breath, and then with a shaking hand, she slid the picture over to him on the table. She placed her hands on her knees and continued, lips quivering, "Then… then what do you think about this…"

Sheldon glanced at the sonogram. "Well, this looks like a typical embryo in the 7th or 8th week of pregnancy," He stated in his lectural tone. "I still don't see how this affects me," he answered, unwilling to change the topic they had just started.

Amy was devastated. She looked at him with wide eyes, her jaw slightly dropped. That was even worse than she imagined. She might have been able to handle a freak-out; she had expected shouting, denying, running away… but indifference? How could he be so cold?

She took a deep breath, suddenly very calm. "You're right. This doesn't concern you. I won't bother you again. Goodbye, Sheldon." With that she banged her mug on the table and stormed off, leaving behind a confused Sheldon, the sonogram and with it, her hopes.

* * *

**A/N:** Hi there, I hope you're still with me. Yes, I'll go down that path. Love it? Hate it? I'm really anxious now… I sincerely hope you're not mad at me with this new direction, but there have been some hints earlier… I'd really love to hear your opinion about this… so imagine Amy's please-pass-the-butter voice: Please! Leave! A Review!


	9. Against all odds

**A/N:** As I couldn't answer everyone in person, I just want to thank you for all your support and criticism! I am really sorry if I made Amy seem stupid, that wasn't my intention. Of course she knew his speech at the seminar about work and family, but I thought she would be in a real emotional turmoil after that happened without planning and she might have been unsure if Sheldon meant that speech simply in terms of not having ruled it out in the distant future and how he would react to this new reality and more changes. If she had thought logically about it, she would have known to just tell him, but she had been afraid and the hormones were doing the rest. And then it was a bad combination with Sheldon not getting any hints and Amy misinterpreting his reaction. I am sorry if it seemed OOC, but I still think it might be possible for her to act in this way. She isn't always logical and rational in the show as well;-) So here we continue now. Thank you so much again Hazelra7 for beta-reading!

* * *

After the door had slammed shut, Sheldon was still sitting in his spot, shaking his head in confusion. "What did I do now?" Then he got up and went after her, shouting, "Hey, what about our sleepover? You can't just screw the relationship agreement, even if that section is still on probation!" But he didn't get any answer.

Running down the stairs, he mumbled to himself, "Oh boy, I really need to get a better grip on social interactions…"

When he came out of the apartment building, he just saw Amy driving away. Shaking his head again, he went back in. On his way upstairs he recalled the conversation they just had, but apart from wanting to make love to Amy there was nothing that sprung to mind.

Had he been too forthcoming with wiggling his eyebrows? – But she had never minded before when he initiated it.

Was she insulted when he called her insatiable? – But she had smiled at him after that remark.

Was it about Bernadette? Should he have feigned interest in her condition? – But that wasn't his business, and she knew he had never participated in the girl's gossip before.

Amy had gotten upset after she had shown him that sonogram. Perhaps it was social convention to gather around the image and participate in hippie talk when one of your friends was pregnant?

He entered his apartment, sighed and grabbed his abandoned tea mug again. The sonogram was still lying on the table, so he took it up with the other hand, searching for clues. Still nothing out of the ordinary. Oh, there was a name in tiny letters on the corner he had missed earlier…

The tea mug slipped out of his hand, shuttering into pieces and leaving a messy puddle on the floor, but he didn't even notice.

_Amy Farrah Fowler._ Three tiny words that had just turned his world upside down. Just like five years ago when he was blackmailed into entering that coffee shop.

He recalled their conversation again. She had been so hesitant, her fingers had been shaking, but he had thought she was just cold, warming her hands on the tea mug. When she had been talking about making love… that hadn't been to turn him on this time… And then, as she had shown him the ultrasonic scan… she had been shaking and holding her breath… and he had told her, _'I still don't see how this affects me…'_

Now even Sheldon gathered he had messed this up… big time. _'I won't bother you again. Goodbye, Sheldon …'_ Those were her last words… what had she meant by that?

When he came to from his stupor, he clutched the image close to his heart, rushed over to Penny's, knocked and entered immediately.

Penny was watching TV, looking up at him in astonishment. "Hey, what's up? You only knocked once, are you alright?"

She saw Sheldon looking at her with wild eyes, his hand clutching at something on his chest. "Penny, I'm in a hurry now. I still had some knocks in the bank from prom. Although in the time needed to explain this, I could have knocked in the usual manner. Come on, I need you to drive me to Amy now!"

"Honey, I've just had a bottle of wine all by myself 'cause none of the ladies cared to participate. You don't want me to drive you, believe me," Penny said, getting up nevertheless.

"Then give me your keys! Leonard's still at work, I need to get to Amy now, she taught me how to drive! Please, it's urgent!" Sheldon was pacing to and fro in front of her door now while she came over to him in turtle speed as it seemed to him.

"Oh Sweetie, what did you do this time? Shouldn't she be with you for your sleepover?" Penny asked, now getting worried, but gave him her keys.

"Yes, she should, and I'm going to make it right," he said in a determined voice, turning around and running down the stairs already.

"Alright, you're welcome, drive save – it's the company's car, try not to damage it," Penny called after him, shaking her head. Was she even allowed to let him drive it?

Penny tried to call Amy, but she seemed to have her phone switched off. She knew Amy had been upset about Bernadette's news, and she probably told Sheldon about it, and most likely he had made some dumb-ass comment about it. Yes, that would make sense. Poor Amy, how she still put up with all that… But he had gone after her, so there was still hope. She shrugged her shoulders and went back to the TV, confident they would work it out in their own way.

* * *

The drive to Glendale was a blur. Sheldon didn't know how he managed, but he made it in one piece and even faster than the speed limits allowed. What he would do when he arrived he hadn't figured out yet. There was no plan; he just knew that he needed her with him.

"Amy." Knock, knock, knock.

"Amy." Knock, knock, knock.

"Amy." Knock, knock, knock.

_No answer. Why doesn't she answer? That's not very polite!_

"Amy, open up!" Knock, knock, knock.

"I know you're there!" Knock, knock, knock.

"Your car's outside!" Knock, knock, knock.

Still no reply. He knocked even louder, shouting her name this time.

"Amy!" Knock, knock, knock.

"Amy!" Knock, knock, knock.

"Amy!" Knock, knock, knock.

He searched for her spare key frantically. When he inserted the key and opened the door, he finally heard her.

"Go away!" A strangled voice called from the bedroom, followed by sobbing sounds. He rushed through the TARDIS doors, never been so glad to hear her voice.

Amy was curled up in her bed, her back facing him. It broke his heart as he saw her lying there, shaking and crying. Just a year ago he would have doubled back at such a sight, but now he just wanted to hug and comfort her. Tentatively he took a step further towards her, one hand still clutching the sonogram, the other reaching out for her…

"I said, go away," she cried with ragged breath, shaken by sobs.

"Heard you the first time," he said, still inching closer, but his arm hanging limply at his side again.

Amy sat up in a hunched posture, her back still facing him, letting her hair fall in front of her face to hide her tears. "What do you… still want here?" she asked in a quavering voice. She wrapped her arms around her, swaying back and forth between sobs trying to calm herself.

"Amy… you said goodbye and that you wouldn't bother me again… I was so afraid when you didn't open the door," he started in a strained tone, now bold enough to sit down next to her but not daring to touch her yet.

Amy shook her head. "Well, I'm alive… very much so… so you can leave now. I understand. You've made it… perfectly clear… this doesn't concern you," she said haltingly.

Then she shot him a short glance with puffy eyes and pointed to her nightstand. "I've already signed the… termination note on the relationship agreement… you can take it with you." She sniveled, trying to speak in a normal voice but failing miserably. She turned away from him again.

Sheldon looked at her with wide eyes. "Why would you do this? All I was saying was that Bernadette doesn't concern me. You haven't made yourself very clear, little lady! I just found out that it was your sonogram after you left." Amy glanced over to him again as he opened his hand, revealing the picture of the tiny, bean-shaped embryo and unconsciously started to softly caress it with his thumb. Her jaw dropped as she saw the loving gesture.

Sheldon was still looking at the picture. "You know I'm not good with getting cues, you have to convey clear messages! And I have no intention of leaving you." He held her face up with his hand under her chin and looked at her earnestly so that she could see the truth in his eyes.

But Amy retreated and shook her head, not daring to believe what he said. "Of course you will leave me! You're just not thinking rationally right now!"

Sheldon gave her a lop-sided grin and inched further towards her. "I might be insulted if I didn't know better that it's just your hormones talking."

Amy was still in denial. After all the sorrows she had the last week this couldn't be resolved that easily. At least she wasn't sobbing anymore and faced him again. "No, this is all wrong. This is the part where you panic and never come back!" She objected, her lips quivering.

"No," Sheldon said calmly and confident, tucking her hair behind her ears and stroking her cheeks with a soft touch. He had made up his mind already some time ago, he just realized it now. _Okay, here it comes…_ "This is the part where you happily accept to move in with me so that I can take care of you and the baby." He bit his lip and searched her eyes, trying to gauge her reaction.

Amy blinked. In a final attempt for all of it to make sense, she stammered, "Sheldon, you… you'd better freak out now… so that we can g-get it over with… I don't understand anything anymore… You d-don't want us to live together," she suddenly sobbed helplessly and overwhelmed, covering her face with her hands as her tears started to fall again.

Sheldon gently took her hands in his and kissed her fingers before he put them down in her lap. Amy hiccupped and bit her lip, trying to get her tears under control. He sighed. That was not the reaction he had expected. Convincing her in such an emotional state was hard work. But Sheldon Cooper was never one to give up easily. "Again you assume to know what I want, even though I just stated the opposite. Why would I tell you what I want is not what I want?"

Amy still didn't dare to believe him. He could never simply accept such an epic change. She sniffed and looked down at their fingers entwined in her lap and tried to keep them from quivering. "Be-because you're… you're confused… you just proposed living together because you got me pregnant!"

"Do I look confused?" He asked very calmly, gently cupping her face in both hands, looking at her intently while his thumbs wiped away her tears. Amy looked back at him, seeing the love in his eyes.

"Amy. I know how much I hurt you with running away last summer, and I've already promised you to never do that again. Besides, I've already admitted to you that I can't seem to sleep without you anymore. With all our sleepovers there's now only one or two days left each week where we're not living together. And if you want to know how I feel about starting a family… well, we've already got Guiseppe… and you should watch that video from the seminar again. Nothing has changed. I love you. We're in this together, and I wouldn't want it any other way." He halted, and as an afterthought he added, "And by the way, you should know the best chance of generating high-intelligent offspring is now when we're not too old."

Amy couldn't help but smile at his irresistible logic. "You know I love you too. But this changes everything, Sheldon! How can you be so calm?"

"Well… you took care of the freak-out already. No need to repeat that," he shrugged and licked his upper lip. He put his arm around her shoulders, pulled her closer to him and stroked her hair. Amy slowly started to relax and pulled her arms around him, hugging him back in a tight embrace. Inhaling his scent had a calming effect. She exhaled, her breath finally returning to normal. They stayed like this for several minutes, close to each other with Sheldon stroking her hair and resting his chin on her head while Amy listened to his heartbeat, calm and steady. After she thought she'd lost him, she never wanted to let him go again.

"Since when have you known?" He finally asked, kissing the top of her head.

Amy sighed and started to explain, still nestled in his arms. "A month ago, I first missed my period. But I had so much work to do for the conference; I blamed it on the stress and didn't think about it further. But then last week I missed it the second time. I began to worry and run some tests in the lab on Sunday. I couldn't believe it and repeated the test on Tuesday. The hCG hormone concentration had doubled. That ruled out the germ cell tumor hypothesis… It all made sense then that I was feeling so tired all the time… and my breasts were more sensitive… For the final confirmation I went to the doctor this morning and got our… Shellybean picture… Oh Sheldon, I had been so worried the whole week…"

Sheldon had done the math as well. "That means it must have happened around the time of our seminar… wow, we were doing great that day," he smiled, thinking back. "And this whole week I wasn't sure, but I got the impression that something was bothering you. You told me you had so much work, and that seemed as good an explanation as any… But I thought our relationship was based on honesty and trust. Why hadn't you told me earlier?"

Amy pulled back a little so she could look at him again. "Uhm… you don't have the greatest history of gratefully accepting changes... I just didn't know how to broach the subject…"

"I guess you're right, I can't blame you for that," he nodded and smiled self-deprecatingly. "Wow, this is a big step indeed."

"Aren't you curious how this could have happened at all? I thought you were going to blame me," Amy asked in a small voice, looking down at her lap.

"Despite what the others may think, I'm not _that_ clueless! After all, that's what making love is designed for. And why would I blame you? I know your strict schedules and impeccable routines, and I've accepted the residual risk of 0.1 percent to get pregnant after all. However, now that you've got me thinking…" He paused, and Amy was afraid of what might come next.

But Sheldon was actually smiling broadly now. "Of course, why hadn't I considered that! The 0.1 percent is only valid for normal people. After all, I excel at everything I do. It's only logical to assume that I also have superior sperm," he finished proudly.

Amy couldn't help it, she had to giggle at that comment. He looked at her confused, because he had been serious. She smiled at him reassuringly. "You certainly do excel at this…"

"Based on your references to a deity in combination with my name, I've come to the same conclusion," he said, kissed her on the temple and asked, "Now, what do you think about coming home with me? Guiseppe has been waiting all alone."

"Coming home… I love the sound of that," Amy smiled. "But… how did you get here so fast anyway?" she suddenly asked.

Sheldon smiled at her proudly. "Oh, I borrowed Penny's car. You might be delighted to hear that I can drive pretty fast in times of need."

"I'm glad to hear that. I see that I taught you well, Padawan," she grinned now, looking up at him through her eyelashes.

Sheldon gulped. "Don't you know what you're doing to me woman, when you use that Star Wars quote correctly?" He said hoarsely.

"I know," Amy continued with the Han Solo quote, and then his lips were on hers while they reclined to the bed. Driving home could still wait a bit, after all.


	10. Nesting sites

**A/N:** Thanks a lot for all your nice comments and support! And many thanks again to my great beta Hazelra7!:-)

* * *

Within the next month, Sheldon had pressed Leonard to finally move in with Penny so that Amy could move in with him. Although Leonard was a bit confused by Sheldon initiating changes, he certainly was not one to argue with that. The roommate agreement was modified to allow for double shower capacity – after Leonard had moved out of course – and the TARDIS was installed as their new bedroom door in what formerly was known as Sheldon's room.

Thanks to Sheldon's foresight and preparedness, Guiseppe had become the proud owner of a luxurious double glass tank with a connecting pathway as Amy's terrarium was combined with Sheldon's in the back of 4A. The small turtle needed quite some time now to roam its estate.

The first trimester of Amy's pregnancy was already over; therefore the risk that something could go wrong with the baby had significantly reduced by now. But Sheldon had become more protective of Amy and didn't even let her carry the tiniest bags. The guys had to carry her furniture. Amy told Sheldon she was pregnant, not ill, but that didn't help. And given their past experiences with their experiments on them, the others still thought they were just joking around to gauge their reactions.

Most of Amy's stuff moved into 4A, except for her bed and couch which she sold beforehand. Her mushroom log – Sheldon's last Valentine's present to her which was really creative and long-lasting, just like their turtle and their relationship – and her small herb garden went to the kitchen, because one definite change Amy had announced would be less take-out and more home-made food, and Sheldon was actually looking forward to it. It had been a while since he last made his sourdough bread, and cooking together with Amy was fun.

* * *

One morning a few weeks later, Sheldon was standing behind Amy in the shower, leathering her back and unashamedly ogling her lush posterior as she couldn't see him right now. Since they agreed on the double-shower rule there had been nary a day where they hadn't showered together. Amy hummed in contentment, making it already hard for him to concentrate on the task at hand. When he came around to her belly, he suddenly noticed the tiniest curvature that hadn't been there before.

He stopped and turned her around in his arms under the water spray, squatting down to have a better view. "You either really ate a lot for dinner yesterday – which would be totally understandable because my cooking is just yummy – or… you're starting to show," he said in wonder.

"A little bit of both, I guess," Amy answered, strangely embarrassed but also thrilled that he knew her body so well to detect such tiny changes. Just two days earlier she had had the same thoughts as she had watched herself in the mirror one morning, but she had been sure that no one else would notice in this early stage, not even Sheldon.

"Wow," he whispered in awe, kissing her belly softly. "Hello little one," he softly said and stroked her belly again tenderly, drawing a large circle around the tiny bulge.

Amy suddenly began to cry silently at the loving gesture, her tears mingling with the warm water raining down on both of them.

Sheldon felt her shaking and looked up at her in confusion. "Uhm… with all these hormones floating around in your body it would really help if you could hold up a sign of happy or sad tears… that would at least cut in half the reasons for the tears I have to wonder about."

"Oh definitely happy tears," Amy sniffed and gave him a broad smile. "You know, this is the first sign of affection you showed towards our baby. Of course I know that you love me… but… you never said you were happy or excited about… it. You just said that you were not going to leave."

"Hey, that's already a huge step for me! I think I've coped great with all the changes so far," Sheldon protested, getting up to take her in his arms. _'Uh-oh, bad move,'_ he thought instantly as he felt a warm, wet and naked Amy pressed against him.

"Oh no, I do appreciate all your efforts, all the changes you're accepting for me, it means so much to me," Amy smiled and hugged him back under the water spray, unconsciously rubbing against him, oblivious to what was troubling him suddenly. "I don't want you to think I always want more than you're willing to give. I just… I hope you're as happy as I am."

"But I am… I simply don't like to talk about it all day long," he said in a rough voice while he took a small step back, trying to will his semi-erection back down again and stop his hands from roaming all over her delicious naked body. But even he knew it was social protocol to not jump your girlfriend's bones in the middle of a serious conversation… but whoever had invented that malarkey surely had never enjoyed the experience of having his naked wet girlfriend pressed against him in the shower, for God's sake!

Amy hadn't noticed his 'problem' yet. "And that's why I'm so happy I could cry when you do show me after all," she said smiling and took a step towards him again while she ran her fingers over his back under the warm water spray, causing him to shiver at the sensation. "But aren't you afraid of how all your rules and order will work with a little toddler?"

Her soft breasts were now pressed against his chest again, and he longed to touch them so badly. _'Rules? I'm not ruled by my hind brain, I'm not ruled by… oh where's that order and control when I need it? Her fingers on my back are torturing me, doesn't she know that? Why is she looking at me so expectantly? Oh she's waiting for an answer… Don't say anything stupid now, she doesn't like that,' _Sheldon thought.

"Uhm…" he stalled, desperately waiting for his brain to power back from standby mode caused by their full-body contact. Then he finally thought of something. "Ah, if it's anything like me, you should be prepared for having to follow even more protocols with two of us," he smiled self-deprecatingly, at the same time relieved to have responded on topic.

Amy chuckled at his reply. Sheldon thought that either she didn't seem to mind or she was delighted by his whacky sense of humor. Well, once the baby was there, she would find out soon enough that he hadn't been joking, he mused. However, another point just sprung to his mind. "I just realized for the first time that there's really our child growing inside you… although, now that I think about it, it's also a bit creepy, like an alien parasite," he grinned. All this proximity was too much; he couldn't stop his hands anymore from roaming all over her back down to her bottom, pressing her into him. He only hoped she wouldn't ask any further serious questions right now.

"I thought you knew better by now not to confuse alien parasites with love," Amy replied, suddenly aware of some throbbing pressing promisingly into her lower abdomen. "And… well, that happens when your upper flermin is too eager to catch all the eggs I'm firing into space," she grinned, picking up on his alien remark while she couldn't help to push a bit against him on her own now.

"Ohh, now you're quoting myself, that's even better than Star Wars," he said hoarsely. "And just to clarify… did you just push against me on purpose?"

"Mh-hm," Amy confirmed, repeating the movement.

"Uhm… does that mean that the serious talk is over and I may do something about this," and he pressed into her deliberately, pinning her up against the tiles.

Amy gasped. "Oh, I hope so," was all she could say before his mouth came crushing down on hers. Amy eagerly kissed him back while her hands messed with his hair. Their hot breaths mingled and their tongues entwined naturally, stroking each other, only interrupted by the occasional nibbling of Amy's lips on that tempting bottom lip of Sheldon. This always drove him mad, and he grabbed her bottom with both hands and pressed along her slick folds, but only to tease her without entering.

He went on for a while sliding against her and grazing her swollen nub on the way, but with just not enough friction as she desperately needed. He was taking his sweet time with her while the warm water spray rained down on them. He started sucking back on her lips as well while his hands softly kneaded her ample posterior. Amy was whimpering now and quivered in his arms, needing more contact. She pushed herself up against him, trying to get him inside while her hand moved down between her legs to touch herself.

But Sheldon was having none of this. "Turn around," he said hoarsely, "and hold on to the tiles." She eagerly complied, bending forward a bit and wiggling her bottom to tease him back. Sheldon positioned himself behind her and stilled her movements with his hands on her hips. Then he finally pushed inside with one long stroke. They both moaned in delight, and he bent towards her to suck on her neck from behind while his hands moved around to cup her breasts. He set up a torturously slow rhythm while he stroked her breasts and softly rolled her erect nipples between his fingers.

Amy was panting now, but it still was not enough. "Sheldon… please… I need you… faster… harder," she groaned.

Sheldon smirked as he had her begging now. He didn't want it to be over too fast, but he couldn't keep that tortoise tempo up any longer himself. He plunged into her more forcefully, and his hand moved down between her legs, rubbing her hardened nub in small circles.

"Oh yes… don't stop… yes, keep going… just like that… almost there… almost there," Amy moaned, and Sheldon nearly stopped with a sudden epiphany as her words reminded him of himself all that time ago when she tried to help him with his closure issues. But he could muse about that later as he heard Amy's frustrated groan… now he had to take care of his woman. He soon sped up even further, so close to release himself right now.

With that tempo he couldn't hold it any longer and came hard inside her, wailing her name. Amy was still panting, and he slightly bit down on her neck and pressed against her clit more forcefully. "Oh yes, so good, yes…" she cried as he felt her walls clamping down on him.

Amy moved around as he pulled out of her, placing her arms around his neck to support her wobbly legs and pull him into her for a tender kiss. They stayed like this until their breaths had returned to normal, then they dried each other off and put on some clothes to have breakfast together. _'What a nice way to start the day, I could get used to this,' _Sheldon mused as he watched Amy dry her hair. _'And a good thing, too, that the scales on my upper flermin are naturally designed to grow again after all this recent abrasion...'_

* * *

In the fifth month of Amy's pregnancy, Sheldon accompanied her for the second sonogram. Both of them were nervous if everything would turn out to be okay. Sheldon was holding her hand in a death grip in the waiting room. When it was their turn, they were completely in awe as they could see the movements of their baby on the monitor for the first time together. The baby was in perfect health and with a high probability would be a girl. The doctor also eased them that Amy's uterus had now grown so much that it wasn't tilted anymore, and that it wouldn't affect her pregnancy or birth. As Amy's belly had grown further – if she wasn't hiding under a cardigan as usual – it was time to go shopping for new clothes for her and also for the baby. Surprisingly, Sheldon insisted to come with her for baby-shopping on Saturday, just to make sure she wouldn't let her hormones rule her into buying some nauseating pink baby collection.

Just as he had found the cutest little Flash onesie and showed it to her with a large smile, they saw Bernadette and Howard coming towards them in the store with their own pack of baby clothes. With her tight clothes there was already a tiny baby bump visible on Bernadette, and she showed it off proudly. Amy was already one month further ahead and her belly was more pronounced, but with her sensible choice of clothes it was well hidden beneath her cardigan at this point.

"Hi, what are you guys doing here?" Howard asked surprised, carrying Bernadette's stuff.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sheldon asked and showed him the Flash onesie, putting his other arm around Amy's shoulders to hold her close to him with a proud smile.

"Come on Amy! No offense, but we all know that even the TARDIS didn't get him into your bed!" Bernadette said.

Before Amy could reply, Sheldon actually agreed. "That's right, because our first time was in my bed. And as you are aware of how much I admire cleanliness, my favorite place to making love to Amy is not the bed…" he trailed off, lost in pleasant thoughts of his eidetic memory, a dazed smile on his face.

Amy blushed, smiling at him shyly. But with a firm voice she then turned to Bernadette. "I know you still don't believe us because you think I've got no sexuality to express, but Sheldon shows me regularly and very explicitly that he loves me, and that's more than I could ever ask for. And I'm carrying his child; whether or not you believe it is irrelevant."

Sheldon snapped out of his trance and added proudly as usual, "And it was conceived in the old-fashioned way… and yes, we do excel in that as well!" And he wiggled his eyebrows at them which just earned him incredulous looks from Howard and Bernadette.

"Sure, fine, whatever you're thinking you're doing… Have fun with your little games – although I'm not so honored to be included in your experiments as well," Bernadette said haughtily.

Howard, however, was eyeing Amy pensively. She somehow seemed to be glowing lately, but he chose not to comment. However great it would be to tease Sheldon if that really was true, since his Neil Diamond night with Amy two years ago he had grown quite fond of her and didn't want to put her in an even more awkward position than she obviously was in already.

"Are they still not believing us?" Sheldon asked Amy in confusion.

"No, they aren't," she clarified, shrugging her shoulders. Why should she bother; they would find out soon enough by the way her belly was growing recently.

"Oh. Then come on Amy, will you just stand here or take your belly out?" he asked, reminding her of the time when he had stated to find the concept of coitus ridiculous and off-putting… boy had he changed since then…

"Sheldon, you know I'm not comfortable with public displays of my body," Amy answered uneasily, shielding her abdomen with the clothes she had picked up.

"Alright," he nodded. "Although there's nothing to be shy of… as long as you remain that uninhibited with me, I can live with this. I surely don't want all the other men ogling you," he leered at her, and she blushed again, looking up at him through her eyelashes with a smile. Of course he had nothing to worry, and she was secretly thrilled by his possessiveness of her.

"Come on, Bernie, we still have quite some shopping list, and I don't want your tiny feet to get sore," Howard soothed his wife, and they took their leave. Howard, however, was wondering why they would go baby-shopping just to perpetuate a ruse, especially since they couldn't know he and Bernie would be there as well. He got another cue to think about as he glanced back over his shoulder and saw Sheldon gently caressing Amy's stomach as they felt unobserved.

* * *

Two weeks later, on a Saturday morning, Amy was having the most pleasant dream about Sheldon being spooned up behind her and confessing to her that he was extremely turned on by her additional curves as of late. Unfortunately, before they could be doing anything about it, she woke up without him as she heard some knocks and then voices in the apartment. She could hear Penny and Leonard talking with Sheldon, something about heading to the bakery and asking whether he needed anything.

Still sleepily, she came out of their bedroom to greet them, clad only in a tank top and jogging pants. She stretched herself and put her hands on the sides of her hips, shifting her belly forward to find a more comfortable position as her back now sometimes hurt a bit. She greeted Sheldon with a smile who watched her from the counter, clearly enjoying the view.

"Good morning, Amy," he smiled at her. "I wanted to surprise you with breakfast, but apparently they took care of that," he said, pointing towards Penny and Leonard who hadn't said anything yet but were only gawking at Amy, both their mouths ajar.

"Oh my god, Amy you're really pregnant! **Sheldon, she's pregnant!**" Penny suddenly screamed, pointing at Amy. Leonard had a goofy grin on his face, watching the scene.

"I know, I was there," Sheldon replied easily as if it wasn't a big deal, embracing Amy as she came towards him and nestling his nose in her hair. She hugged him back and sighed contentedly, and he lightly massaged her back.

"Oh, I am so sorry for not believing you! I thought you were just doing your experiments on us as always! And you've hidden that all along under your cardigans! You're even further along than Bernie!" Penny exclaimed, rushing towards them to hug them both.

"Oh well, a group hug," Leonard smiled and joined them. Sheldon disentangled himself from them soon after. He loved touching Amy, but this was entirely too much hippie dippy for his likings.

"Well, I'm at the end of the fifth month already," Amy explained when they had calmed down again. "Sheldon told me convincingly that having a child would not hurt our careers, and he is a very wise man. He also is very persistent in showing me how happy he is about it. I still can't believe it… I really have the best boyfriend ever!" She smiled widely now.

"Yes, she has," Sheldon agreed matter-of-factly. "I can't believe I admit that, but we even talk about feelings now and then." He turned to Penny. "And we've reached a 9.6 – there's no chance you'll ever get near that now with Chardonnay."

* * *

**A/N:** Hazelra7 told me in chapter 9 that nowhere in there does Sheldon say he is excited about the baby or that he is happy, just that he's not going to leave. Well, it was too early for that then. He needs to visualize it, and now as her belly grows, so does his joy…

Also QBMaja had them both thinking about a baby in chapter 22 of the Transboundary Peregrination, with Amy thinking about even more protocols to follow and Sheldon wondering how he should take care of a baby but that little Amy would be cute. I loved their thoughts and weaved it into here. You should check both their recent stories, they're great!


	11. All in due time

**A/N:** Thank you so much everyone, your reviews make me so happy! To answer one of the guest reviews here, the dream Amy had in the previous chapter will be dealt with in chapter 12. Many thanks again to Hazelra7! And one might consider this chapter as a spoiler for episode 8x24…

* * *

News traveled fast when Penny was involved. After that Saturday morning revelation, suddenly the whole gang decided to gather for breakfast at 4A. Penny had texted Bernie, _'You're not gonna be the first mom in the gang, Amy's prego for real'_, and then Raj got a text message from Howard, _'All hail the dirty sock, we're getting benign overlords!'_, and suddenly there were Bernadette, Howard, Raj and Emily all assembled in the living room under the pretense of being around in the neighborhood anyway and having brought some stuff for breakfast.

Amy enjoyed being in the center of attention once in her life for a good reason and not to be made fun of by school bullies. Everyone congratulated them and wanted to touch her belly until Sheldon said, "Enough of that, that's mine," and took Amy in his arms.

Bernadette was a bit envious that Amy hadn't suffered at all from morning sickness, because that had been a hard time for herself. She even apologized for having told her that even the TARDIS wouldn't get Sheldon into her bed. Howard was smiling that his assumption had been correct when he had met them during baby shopping with Bernadette, because he had the impression that Amy was glowing just like Bernie recently, but hadn't said anything.

"No offense, Amy… but Sheldon, tell me, is this a test tube baby, or have you actually figured out another way to accomplish that?" Raj finally asked, grinning evilly to be able to make fun of Sheldon.

"I'm flattered that you still think of me as an emotionless robot, but I've never denied having hormones. It was Leonard assuming I didn't have any," Sheldon said calmly.

"And whatever happened to homo novus being above such urges?" Howard chimed in, then looked to Amy, "Sorry, but after all these years of wrinkling his nose at us he asked for it," he apologized.

"Don't you ever listen to what I say," Sheldon shook his head in haughty derision. "If it wasn't for our child, I'd really weep for the future of mankind. Let me repeat my words to you, then. First of all, when I said I was too evolved and not meant to drive, I hadn't taken into account ever having such a wonderful and patient teacher as Amy," he said, smiling down at Amy, still hugging her.

"And as a scientist I'm always open to remodel my theories if new data is available, so I'm not too proud to admit I may have to modify my earlier assessment. Further, I never said I was a homo novus, only that it's for anthropologists to decide. And finally, it was you fine gentlemen who introduced me to the only other human being able to turn my whole world and everything I used to believe upside down. So yes, Amy and I made love, and it's wonderful. I hope this answers your questions once and for all."

Sheldon looked at Amy in alarm as he heard her sniffing, but she looked up at him with glassy eyes to assure him. "Happy tears, Sheldon," she smiled. "I still can't believe it that at times when I least expect it you come up with the most romantic things ever to woo me all over again." She kissed him tenderly on the lips, and Sheldon's eyes closed instantly as he felt her soft warm lips on his. He didn't hesitate to reciprocate, ignoring all their friends watching them. Only a second sniff brought them apart, and they all watched Emily hugging Raj for comfort who was wiping his eyes and nose, "Dude, that's so beautiful," he sniffed.

* * *

After their friends had found out about Amy's pregnancy, they decided that they couldn't postpone it any longer – they would finally have to tell their families as well. Sheldon was a bit afraid of what his mom might have to say about living in sin. So that evening they started with Amy's mother and sat up a Skype session to tell her the news.

"Hi Mother," Amy greeted her mother, sitting next to Sheldon on the couch.

"Hello, Mrs. Fowler," Sheldon chimed in, waving at her.

"Hello you two. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?" Amy's mother was curious. She knew that they were living together now, but she hadn't seen her daughter in person for quite some time, and Amy hadn't wanted to tell her too early in case something might still go wrong in the early stages of the pregnancy. Also she didn't need another Armin-the-miniature-horse-breeder fiasco if she told her mother without having anything to prove it.

"We've got some important news we wanted to tell you," Amy started, then took Sheldon's hand. "Shall we show her together?" she asked him, and he nodded, smiling at her. Amy unbuttoned her cardigan, and Sheldon stroked her belly tenderly.

"We're having a baby!" They said together, smiling largely at each other.

Her mother just looked at them perplexed for a moment, her eyes moving from their smiley faces to her belly to and fro. Finally a smile began to spread over her face as well. "Oh Amy that's quite a surprise! Frankly, I had given up any hope on grandchildren. I'm so happy for you! Is everything going well?" she eagerly asked.

"Everything is perfect," Amy beamed. "I'm in the sixth month now, and we love and care about each other so much that there's enough left over for a one and a half pound fetus," she squeezed Sheldon's hand, making him blush as she praised him for his feelings.

"I'm so glad to hear that," her mother said. Then another thought occurred to her. "But you two are surely going to get married now soon?" She asked.

Amy objected instantly. "Please Mother, we don't need that. We've got much more than that! We love each other, we are each other's emergency contacts and intellectual equals, we have a roommate and a relationship agreement, and that's much more binding than having a marriage certificate! And we both believe that the concept of marriage is an unnecessary social construct that adds no value to our relationship."

Sheldon, however, was in a pensive mode. Absent-mindedly stroking the back of her hand with his thumb, he began haltingly, "Uhm… actually, I've been thinking… under the premise that nothing changes whatsoever… I could live with that…"

There was silence for several seconds, then Amy asked incredulously, "Sheldon, are you asking me… to marry you?"

"I guess I am," he said, smiling sheepishly and a bit anxious to how she would react.

Amy gasped at him with wide eyes. That was not something she had ever imagined to actually hear him say – well alright, imagined perhaps, but not believed. "Sheldon… that's a big step," she finally said, her voice cracking.

"It's a big belly," he replied, shrugging his shoulders and biting his lip while he watched her eyes intently, trying to interpret all facial cues correctly.

"Oh," Amy said in a dejected voice. She exhaled, gathering her thoughts. "Sheldon. I don't want you to think you have to marry me just because I'm having your baby!" She finally objected and folded her arms, breaking away from his contact.

"Alright," Sheldon nodded, agreeing with her. That wasn't the smiley face he had expected, but he could make it right – probably. "How about marrying me because I'm in love with you and can't imagine my life without you anymore? Would you have less objections becoming my wife once our daughter is born?" He asked hopefully.

"I guess… I could live with that," Amy replied haltingly, a smile slowly blossoming on her face. Her arms disentangled again and she rested her hands on her knees.

There was an awkward silence, then Sheldon realized she wasn't going to say anything else. "I'm really not good with social protocols… does that mean we're engaged now?" he inquired, reaching for her hands again.

"Yes, we are, come here!" Amy was grinning all over now and pulled him close for a kiss.

When they came up for air, they saw Amy's mother watching them with a huge smile on her face.

"Uhm… seems like we've just put a Tijuana sex show on display for your mother," Sheldon said with a glance to the laptop.

"Oh, not at all, that was the sweetest thing ever to watch," Amy's mother replied. "I'm so glad that I've found out recently how to record Skype sessions. People will love to watch this on your wedding party!"

"Well, I guess we deserved that after our first call four years ago," Amy said meekly after they had said their goodbyes to her mom.

Sheldon had left shortly and was back with a small box. "Amy. Now that we're engaged, I'd like you to have this," he said, going down on one knee in front of her.

"Oh my god, Sheldon, this is so beautiful," Amy cried, clutching her chest. She slowly picked up the elegant platinum ring and marveled at the three diamonds in a row refracting the light that passed through them.

Sheldon smiled while he carefully slipped it on her ring finger and kissed her hand. "I know. And it's made of recycled industrial diamonds," he explained proudly. "Of course all the carbon atoms are ordered in the same face centered cubic crystal structure with tetrahedral bonds as found in the lattice of ordinary diamonds. But these here have been used sensibly beforehand and do not origin from dubious circumstances. In fact," he raised his eyebrows, "I've got a certificate confirming that they were utilized solely for the sake of science, namely for cutting wafers into substrates for x-ray diffraction samples. These samples have then been used for physics and biology experiments, so we have both our disciplines combined here… even though it's just experimental physics. Well, the only carbon structure I am using for my work consists of the hexagonal layers of graphite in a pencil, but I thought you might not be too pleased about that on a ring," he finished his explanations.

"Oh, Sheldon, that's so romantic!" Amy was smiling all over because of his thoughtfulness. "And I've got a ring similar to the one of my Bestie now, isn't that great!"

"Not too similar, actually. Leonard had diamonds used for common drilling applications, and he went for gold. This here is platinum which is harder and more stable. It also has remarkable catalytic properties. For another fun fact, the standard meter in Paris also consists of a platinum-iridium alloy due to its low thermal expansion and hardness. And look at that diamond in the center. I've had Howard make it out of pure carbon with supplemental addition of each one hair from both of us using the high-pressure high-temperature crystal formation method. We even added a dandruff from you," Sheldon grinned.

"Whoa, what… So that central stone is a compound of our DNA, that's the cutest idea ever!" Amy swooned. Then she thought back. "But… that must have been three years ago when Leonard first proposed to Penny…"

"Yes," Sheldon nodded, lost in thoughts. "I've thought about it for… uhm, quite some time. It just… well, it never came up. And who do you think found that site originally? Leonard asked me to come up with an idea as usual, and that's what I did, because I'm a problem solver. And you know what I think about preparedness," Sheldon explained, but got interrupted by Amy kissing him again.

The following day, they also called Sheldon's mom to tell her the news. Sheldon remarked that she was much more enthusiastic about this than about all of his prior scientific achievements. Mary confirmed that while she never had any doubts about his academic success, she might have been worried a bit about his emotional progress, and even though they obviously had sinned, she had never been happier for him than in that instant – especially since they intended to be joined in holy matrimony.

They decided not to correct her about the holy stuff because they certainly didn't intend to have a church ceremony, but this information could be shared later, all in due time. And they were glad that her attitude towards sinning had softened a bit as she hadn't set the best example herself, thinking back to Sheldon's surprise visit. However, she insisted on visiting them soon to see them all in person and bring them Sheldon's childhood book with illustrated Bible stories for children. They politely accepted, already imagining a place for it next to the geology book in the darkest corner of the bookshelf.

* * *

Towards the end of her sixth month, Sheldon and Amy were climbing up the stairs to 4A. Sheldon carried all their grocery bags and Amy had the bag with the bread – after some convincing that she was no invalid – again – and that it didn't hurt to carry light weights. However, at the second flight of stairs, Amy was already panting and grabbing the railing for support.

"I knew it was a bad idea, but no one ever seems to listen to my genius! Now will you please hand me over your bag?" Sheldon insisted.

"Phew," Amy exhaled. "The bag is fine, Sheldon. It's just really a lot of stairs and climbing up will not be getting easier the last months," she explained, pausing on the stairs to catch her breath.

"69," Sheldon clarified.

"Pun intended?" Amy asked grinning at where his mind seemed to be going.

"What pun?" Sheldon was confused. "We have 69 steps. But of course, why hadn't I thought of that earlier! Don't worry Amy; I'm having that elevator repaired for you. And we can't be carrying a buggy all the way up and down the stairs in the future! I have excellent arguments now to convince our landlord," Sheldon said eagerly.

"Oh dear, I hope they'll let us still live here when you're through with this," Amy worried now and started to climb up slowly again. "Sheldon, I'm not so sure about this… Did you ever have to explain why it didn't work in the first place?"

"No, neither did I, nor should I. I saved Leonard's life. If anyone, then it should be him doing the explaining," he huffed.

Once Sheldon had his mind set to something, he was not one to give up easily. After seven phone calls and three letters of complaint to their landlord – and one secret call from Amy to convince him that Sheldon wasn't being rude on purpose and that they'd really love to stay in this apartment – the good man agreed not only to not have Sheldon kicked out, but also to compromise on the elevator issue if the tenants shared a part of the repair costs. Since Sheldon never had any interest in money, he even agreed on paying the largest fraction of that part, insisting that Amy should be kept out of this while Leonard and Penny participated as well.

Thus, less than one month later, the elevator was finally repaired and Amy was thrilled that Sheldon had campaigned for her well-being this persistently.

Also Leonard's old room had recently been redecorated, now featuring a diaper changing table, a baby crib and a cupboard filled with superhero baby clothing. Sheldon had bought tons of large lego bricks as he intended to share his lego fun time soon, and child-friendly magnetic bars so that their daughter could start building molecular structures of her own, and Amy had brought all her beloved childhood books after her recent visit at her mom's.

Speaking of books, for being properly prepared, Sheldon had set up a small library full of parenting and child development books and was happy to spread his wisdom among the group as well. Especially Howard and Bernadette were enlightened about everything they were doing wrong. However, strangely they weren't as receptive for his input as he had expected.

One evening Sheldon told Amy about his confusion that Howard didn't seem to be too happy about his lecturing – again – when he had just started to tell him another fun fact that might have been really helpful. It may have sounded hippie-dippy at a first glance, but there were indications that positive feelings during pregnancy would result in happier children as well, and as both Sheldon and Amy didn't have the happiest childhoods with all that bullying around, it would be worth a try. When Sheldon had come to the conclusion that a simple way to release endorphins would be to feed their women with chocolate or having them reach as many orgasms as possible or a combination of the two, Howard had told him to finally shut up just as Sheldon wanted to go into the details.

Amy was actually glad he didn't get the chance to elaborate further. She soothed him that Howard and Bernie wouldn't generate homo novus offspring anyway, so he should just try to let them do it in their own way. Partly to stop him bothering their friends, but partly because she was actually interested in it herself, she got him intrigued with starting a long-term experiment concerning the development of their children with different initial conditions. Of course they would need do calculate a model for taking their higher IQs into account to normalize the results, but to have a good comparison later it would be most helpful to let Howard and Bernie remain mostly uninfluenced by their knowledge. Sheldon agreed because Amy was really a wise woman.

Amy was also thrilled that Sheldon wasn't just interested in promoting their daughter's intelligence but that he wanted her to be happy. He told her that he had no doubts about her intelligence and that they would of course encourage her in the best way possible, but that he himself turned out just fine despite the lack of intellectual stimulation while growing up. In retrospective he wouldn't trade his mother's loving care against Beverly Hofstaedter's scientific education. They decided they would only replace the religious part of his upbringing with science fun instead.

Furthermore, Amy lectured Sheldon that the substantia nigra part of the brain which plays an important part for addiction slightly increases during pregnancy, resulting in more positive feelings towards the infant. When Sheldon pointed out sassily that she was admitting being ruled by her hormones which made her practically getting addicted to the baby already, she was happy to inform him that also in the father's brain the oxytocin levels would increase. As they were correlated to the amount of affection he would display towards their child, and considering him stroking her belly several times a day, it obviously meant that he was slowly turning into a hippie as they were speaking. He just shrugged his shoulders, having suspected that much already.

Concerning their friends, after the initial surprise, the gang was enthusiastic about having two babies soon. Especially Howard couldn't await it because then Sheldon would dedicate all his time and energy to their child and not to lecturing him anymore. Thinking of it, he became aware that Sheldon's need to spread his knowledge on this subject seemed to have decreased recently – due to Amy's interference unbeknownst to him. Raj, however, was nearly in tears about the beauty of all of it every time he saw Amy or Bernadette. Girl's night seemed to have changed into baby night given the course their talks were taking lately, and even Penny got a bit melancholic watching Amy and Bernadette being so happy. Perhaps starting a family wouldn't be that awful after all, she thought. But she'd rather watch first how it would turn out with the two of them and enjoy her wine in the meantime.

* * *

**A/N:** I hoped you liked the proposal… I thought for some time whether to go there at all because I don't like sappy stuff, but with recent developments (Yay! Sheldon has a ring!) I had to do this, and I thought in this way it might be more fitting for Shamy.

And yes, I actually tried to count the stairs, I hope I came up correctly with 23 for each flight and three flights in total and then I was grinning at the result… you can see it in ep. 4x05 (the one where they skype Amy's mother) where Sheldon walks down the stairs reciting our nearest stars.

Thanks to Lady Maca for commenting that "getting prepared will be kicking into overdrive" – after reading it, I added the parenting library and Sheldon lecturing everyone, I hope you liked it!


	12. Massage and research

**A/N:** Thank you so much again Hazelra7! And thanks to all you wonderful people following my story and telling me your opinions about it! This is now the penultimate chapter…

* * *

Amy was now in the last trimester, and Sheldon didn't want her to drive on her own anymore, so he drove her around and to and from work now – and also to the prenatal classes they decided to attend together. One could never be prepared too well, Sheldon argued, although he got confused with all those huge bellies around him and the breathing exercises while they were sitting around on gym balls, but it never hurt to learn as much as possible. He revised his opinion a bit when the midwife who ran the course brought a model of the female pelvis and a baby doll. As she demonstrated how the baby moving on an inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis would manage to work its way out through the birth canal, Sheldon wondered, _'We're screwed indeed, how should this design ever work out with all the things that could possibly go wrong…'_

As long as she wasn't touching any chemicals, Amy was allowed to continue her work in the lab and even got an assistant to help her. Sheldon was so glad that she taught him to drive some time ago so that he could take care of his woman now.

From their newfound knowledge about child development they were aware that from the seventh month on their embryo would be able to hear noises. As early infantile enhancement of talents couldn't start early enough in Sheldon's opinion, he got into classic music and found out he loved Bach's fugues as they consisted of a complex mathematical beauty. He downloaded the whole Bach works catalogue to their phones, and they listened to it whenever they were in the car as well as in the evenings when he put the loudspeaker on Amy's belly.

On their way home from work, Amy was now fidgeting around on her seat and groaned in a very low tone, not wanting to bother him.

"Amy, what ails you?" Sheldon asked concerned, noticing her movements and sounds due to his excellent peripheral vision and Vulcan hearing even though he kept his eyes on the road and they were just listening to Bach's Musikalisches Opfer.

"Oh, it's nothing. I've been working in the lab all day and my back hurts a bit," Amy said evasively, a bit embarrassed that he caught her not feeling too well.

"Just wait until we get home. You're in for a special treat of the famous Cooper massage. You'll just have to lay back and let my hands work their magic on you," Sheldon grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

Amy smiled back at him and blushed at her vivid imagination.

At home, Amy lay down on her side on a bath towel spread over the bed, her back facing Sheldon. He insisted that she removed her cardigan and top so that he could apply her pregnancy body oil for the back massage. She was now clad only in her jogging pants and bra, and he was kneeling on the bed behind her, her back facing him.

After a while of massaging the soft velvety skin of her back that soon began to glisten with the thin oil film and hearing her delicious soft little moans as he softly kneaded the tightness out of her muscles, he asked, "Uhm, Amy. Would you find it weird… if hypothetically… I happened to be… turned on by your baby belly?"

Amy was humming contently under his administrations, reveling in his touch and had to gather her senses again first to form a reply. "Hmm… Not at all. Although some men might also be repulsed by it, others might even be afraid to hurt the baby…"

"That's stupid, of course," Sheldon replied eagerly.

"Obviously," she agreed. "But you know how people are… Hmm, your hands feel so good," She moaned as she got distracted again. "However, what I was getting at… Being aroused would be a logical physiological reaction to bond the male to his pregnant female which is an important evolutionary advantage."

"Oh, logical. Good," Sheldon exhaled while he continued with his ministrations.

Amy had some thoughts of her own while his hands continued working their magic on her back. "Uhm… while we're talking hypothetically… during the last trimester the female often experiences an increased libido… which might be happening to me as well…"

Sheldon gulped. "Good," he said hoarsely, while his hands had moved forward and were now softly stroking her belly. "Oh look, she just kicked me again," he suddenly said, distracted by a movement under his hand. "Hey, you're a cheeky one," he spoke to her belly.

Amy grinned, "Just like her Daddy," and stroked his hand in return. She paused as he shivered, then asked, "Sheldon… are you being turned on by my belly?"

Sheldon was quiet first, then he took her hand, moved it back towards him and placed it in his lap. "Well, that's not your only body part doing that for me, but now that you're asking… take a guess…"

Amy gasped as she felt the hardness beneath her hand and moved it along a bit, applying light pressure which made Sheldon moan softly.

He had to know what she meant earlier. "Amy… are you… uhm… experiencing an enhanced libido… right now?"

"Hmm…. Very much so…" Amy confirmed in a husky voice.

"Would you mind if I did something… about that?" he further inquired while his hands moved down her belly, slipping underneath the rim of her jogging pants.

"Not at all," she said, wiggling her hips so that he could remove her pants. As she lay before him, he could also easily unclasp her bra.

"You are so gorgeous," He said huskily while he stroked her baby belly again.

Amy leaned back on her elbows to get a better view of him. "You too, but you are wearing way too many clothes," she winked at him.

Sheldon was already removing his shirts, but when she turned to face him, he quickly propped up some pillows beneath her back. "I have done some research," he explained. "Since lying on your back can rupture blood vessels due to the weight of the belly, you should pull up some pillows to avoid pressure on the back."

"I have done some research of my own," Amy said in sultry voice while she was ogling him unashamedly as he stripped down his pants. Sheldon just raised his brows, crawling towards her on the bed with a sexy smile.

"Since it has proven to be too difficult using your favorite position in the shower where you have pinned me up against the tiles…" she started, getting distracted by Sheldon eyeing her like his pray.

"Please go on, I'm all pro-research," he said huskily and began slowly trailing a line of kisses on the inside of her thigh towards her apex.

"Uhm… so I have looked up the most convenient positions for intercourse during pregnancy," she continued but then became lost in the sensation as he had reached his goal. "Mmmh," she moaned as he started kissing and lapping her swollen nub and slowly inserted a finger into her wet folds, soon followed by a second one. Amy was writhing in his arms now, her capability of speech lost at the moment.

Sheldon was in no hurry. He plunged his fingers into her again and again agonizingly slow while he rolled his tongue around her nub, only interrupting it to suck on it from time to time, slowly building up her pleasure. Amy was panting now; her eyes had rolled back into her head in bliss. When he suddenly stopped, she let out a frustrated groan.

Sheldon grinned at her, stroking her thighs but not going where she desperately needed him now. "How about a practical demonstration?" He asked in a deeper voice than normal.

"What?" Amy asked confused, finally focusing on him with dilated pupils. She just needed him to continue now, badly. Sheldon grinned smugly as he had managed to reduce her to monosyllabic sentences now.

"You spoke about research, and I'm very intrigued… would you like to show me what you had in mind?" He asked, raising his brows.

Amy was eager to share her results now. If he wanted to tease her, so could she. "A very comfortable position would be me lying down on my side," and she did so as she explained, "with you spooning me from behind – oh, there you are already," she gasped in pleasured surprise as she felt him entering her from behind. "Mmmh, not losing any time, are we?"

"If you assume that time can be lost and found again, then we've got enough lost time to make up for," he mumbled in between kissing and nibbling her neck, his hips thrusting into her with a steady rhythm. His hand had started fondling her belly, then moved up to cup her full breasts and rubbing and rolling her hardened nipples between his fingers. Her breasts had fascinated him as well, they had already grown a bit in preparation for future nurturing their baby, and her nipples were now less sensitive than at the beginning of her pregnancy. He loved playing with them and hearing her soft moans and gasps in reaction to his ministrations.

At some point in her haze, however, Amy remembered that she wanted to tease him back. "As much as I… mmh… love feeling you inside me," she began and clenched her walls down on him to emphasize, making him gasp and push into her more forcefully, "I wasn't finished with presenting my research. Oh yes," she got distracted again as he sucked on her earlobe.

"Uhm… this position is nice and comfy… mmh, very nice," she moaned as he started rubbing in small circles around her nipple, "but it allows only rather shallow penetration. This, however," and she sat up, smirking at his frustrated groan as he slipped out of her, then switching him on his back and climbing on top of him in a surprisingly agile manner given her increased circumference, "gives much more depth," and she finally impaled herself on him, meeting his hips that came up in desperate need to reconnect with her, "it also puts no pressure on my belly," and his hands came up to fondle her belly again, "and puts me in control of the speed," and she rocked on him agonizingly slow, "and it also works perfectly on a chair or couch". Yes, that was definitely the teasing she had in mind, she thought as she contemplated his dilated pupils and the way he bit his bottom lip to restrain himself.

Then she stopped and climbed off the bed. "What are you doing now, stop this torture woman," Sheldon groaned and got up to catch her. "Oh no, are you trying to teach me closure lessons again?"

But Amy was really quick, she had taken a bath towel and ran into the kitchen. "No, I would never do such a mean thing," she called. "You wanted a demonstration, and given your love for the number three, I will show you the third position I researched. Come get me," she said in a sassy voice.

"Come back here, I'm not gonna run around naked in the apartment," he cried from the door of their sleeping room.

"Too bad, then, 'cause I'd really prefer your company to finishing off on my own," she called back. "And you didn't have these inhibitions when you tried to prove a point to Leonard and Penny on the couch," she added.

"Oh, that vixen knows exactly what will get me," he groaned and went after her. When he came around the corner and saw her, he stopped dead in his tracks. That was a sight to behold indeed. Knowing his admiration for cleanliness, she had spread the bath towel on the kitchen counter and was sitting on it at the edge facing him, her left arm propped behind her to support her while her right hand was moving between her folds pleasuring herself. Her head was thrown back and her luscious belly was pointing towards him, her breasts softly swaying at her movements. He hadn't believed even more blood could rush to his groin, but that's exactly what happened, and she had rendered him completely mute.

"I'm glad you decided to join me," Amy purred, continuing to stroke herself. "I got a bit more creative here, because originally this position was meant to be on the edge of the bed, but I thought this height might be much more comfortable and you wouldn't have to kneel before me…"

Sheldon didn't even listen to her anymore. He was with her with three long strides and kissed her fervidly while he entered her not too gently now. Amy wrapped her ankles behind his bottom, urging him on while her arms went around his neck for support, her belly rubbing between them. He was thrusting into her hard and fast now, and Amy could only hang on for dear life. She liked it when he was gentle, but every once in a while she loved to see him that passionate and out of control, knowing that only she could do that to him.

Amy's hands ran through his hair, grabbing his short-cropped strands not too gently while their tongues kept dueling around each other, but he didn't seem to mind. Sheldon had grabbed her bottom with both hands, urging her even closer against him as their movements became more erratically. They were spiraling fast towards the point of no return after all that teasing before.

They broke their kiss as they needed more air now. "AMYYY… I'm so close…" Sheldon panted.

Amy moaned in response, "Me too… aww, don't stop… let it go…" and she started to shiver uncontrollably around him as she began circling her swollen nub frantically.

Through their haze they registered some knocks in the distance but couldn't make out its meaning. Then the sound was repeated and they heard Penny's voice through the door, "Come on lovebirds, open up, we've seen your car outside!"

Amy looked at Sheldon with large eyes, trying to remember whether they locked up the door, but he just stared at her intently with a slightly crazed expression and kept on pushing into her, and then she couldn't suppress moaning his name as her orgasm overwhelmed her.

Sheldon was too far gone, it seemed physically impossible for him to stop right now even if he wanted. He just hoped they wouldn't come in yet. "Just… a minute… I'm coming…" he groaned as he felt himself erupting in her tight passage while she was still convulsing around him.

They clung to each other, floating back to earth again as the reality hit them. "Come on, we have to postpone the cuddling session this time, they could enter every moment," he whispered in spite of the noise they just made while he helped her getting down on wobbly legs. They made a beeline to their sleeping room and dressed hastily. Amy put on her jogging pants and shirt which she preferred of late as they didn't corset her belly.

When they were decent coming back in the living room, Sheldon called, "It's open!"

Amy hissed, "What? You hadn't locked the door and kept on going after hearing the knocks?"

"What should I say… I needed closure first," he whispered and patted her bottom with a grin.

The door opened, revealing Leonard, Penny, Howard and Bernadette standing outside.

"Hi guys. We already thought with that tempo Guiseppe would be inviting us in," Leonard greeted them and entered with a grocery bag.

"What do you want?" Sheldon asked, ignoring his comment.

"Well, It's the third Thursday of this month, so we thought how about a good old Anything-Can-Happen Thursday," Penny grinned and came in after Leonard.

"Uhm, she thought that, I didn't. I know what you think about surprises," Leonard hastily clarified. "But we brought some food, here, I've got baguettes," he added.

"Hi, you're really glowing tonight, Amy," Howard greeted her with a sly smile as he entered. "Oh, and Raj might come by later with Emily, they're both still working."

"Mmh, they have food, isn't that nice, Sheldon? You must be hungry as well," Amy asked, and he nodded reluctantly. After their recent activities, food was very welcome.

"Hi Amy, Sheldon. I made a light salad," Bernadette said and went to put it on the kitchen counter.

"Whoa, whoa, wait," Sheldon chimed in, rushing past her and taking the Purell bottle from the sink to start sanitizing the counter – even though they had used a bath towel – while Amy was blushing and trying to hide her face in her hands at his obvious actions.

Penny was looking to and fro between them with a large grin, taking in their flushed faces and disheveled dressing state. "Whoa, don't tell me we just interrupted you doing it **on the kitchen counter!**" She cried. "And that's sex hair if I ever saw it," she leered at Sheldon.

"It's just Sheldon's need for cleanliness," Amy started meekly and disposed Sheldon's wipes to get out of view behind the counter.

Sheldon, however, was already answering, "Alright, we won't tell you. Just for the record, you didn't interrupt. A few minutes more would have been appreciated, though. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a quick shower now," he finished and strode off, winking at Amy who tried to bury her face even deeper in her hands at his words.

"That dawg," Leonard grinned and joined the others at the counter where they started to prepare an impromptu dinner.

"Are you still so much in love with his honesty?" Howard asked Amy who was trying to appear busy with cutting the baguette.

"Aw, what the hell," Amy said wearily, putting away the knife. _'Offence is the best defense,' _she thought. "Okay, if you have to know, I did some research concerning the most convenient positions for having intercourse during pregnancy… so that one," she pointed to the counter, "was actually my idea." She turned to Howard and Bernadette. "I could also send you an abstract if you like," she finished earnestly.

"Wow, you guys really rock," Penny said while she put a bottle of wine in the fridge.

Bernadette was rendered speechless, but Howard grinned widely, "I can't believe I'm actually considering getting sex tips from Sheldon and Amy, but why not? You're the ones with the PhDs, so I'm sure you've done some thorough research. Just send it over if you're not… too busy," he winked at her. "Ow," he turned to Bernadette, "What did you pinch me for?"

"I'm not going to discuss our sex life here," she chastised him.

"But you have to admit it's starting to be more difficult with your belly getting in the way… Ow!" Howard yelled as he was pinched again.

"If I may interject, we had that problem as well," Amy said to Howard. "But with a bit of out-of-the-box thinking you could spoon her from behind or let her be on top – or get back to this version here," and she motioned again to the counter, "you can also use a chair instead, just any position where your belly is not confined between the two of you."

"Aw, thanks," Bernadette said sarcastically, now even more uncomfortable with being in the center of this discussion while Leonard and Penny were grinning at the exchange and Howard also didn't seem to mind.

"You're welcome," Amy replied; glad that for the first time in her life she could actually be of help with such a topic. "And you didn't seem to have any problems discussing my sex life – or apparent lack thereof," she continued more sternly. "I am so happy to have found someone who wants me to express my sexuality, even more so since my belly is growing."

"Who are you talking about?" Sheldon asked bewildered, coming back from the shower, clothed but his hair still damp.

"You, of course," Amy eased him quickly and came over to hug him. He looked even more sexy than normal with his wet hair. And he must have put on extra baby powder, she mused as she inhaled his scent.

Sheldon hugged her back and rested his chin on her head. "And why were you discussing that at all?" he inquired, not objecting to her statement.

"You started it with the Purell," Penny answered with a large smile at seeing the two of them so close together.

Howard chimed in. "Amy had just started to tell us about her… research." And he swayed his pelvis in an Elvis-like manner while Bernadette shook her head in resignation at her husband's tomfoolery.

Sheldon actually got the hint. "Oh, and did you learn something?" He asked him earnestly.

Amy chuckled in his arms.

"What's so funny," Sheldon murmured, gently kissing the top of her head and stroking her belly. He simply couldn't stop touching it lately.

Howard came also up behind Bernadette, taking her in his arms and placing his hands on her belly as well. She leaned back and smiled at his affection. Seeing all that hugging, Leonard embraced Penny as well. She quickly displaced his hands from her stomach back to her hips. "Hey, we're not doing it Shamy style," she grinned at him. "I'll first marry you and then we might think about kids!" Leonard nodded eagerly, glad that she was talking about marriage that openly at all.

"I just thought this might be my new favorite position for the time being," Amy explained in the meantime in a low voice intended for his ears only, "and then I remembered I haven't even shown you the other one yet… Uhm, I would be kneeling on the couch, my back facing you… then Leonard referring to you as a canine would finally be appropriate," Amy smiled.

Sheldon gulped. "You are insatiable indeed… but let's keep that in mind for next time, you really wore me out now," he whispered, smiling back at her.

"Ok guys, this is getting yucky now," Leonard interrupted before they might actually think of doing a practical demonstration. He stood closest to them and had heard most of it, though he wished he hadn't. "Let's just grab a bit to eat, alright? And then I'd rather talk about the latest shoe fashion," he said, earning a large smile from Penny. He was relieved as they finally all sat down on the couch just like old times and talked about their days.


	13. Big is beautiful

**A/N: **Sorry, I completely forgot: I don't own anything! Many thanks to Hazelra7 for beta-reading! This is now the final chapter, thank you everyone again for all your wonderful support! You guys are really the best!

* * *

"Amy. Are you aware that we are living in the only industrial nation that doesn't offer any maternity leave?" Sheldon asked one evening while he was massaging Amy's ankles, sitting in his spot with her feet on his lap. Amy was due in one month and still working full time at CalTech. She was getting regular massages from Sheldon in the evenings which both of them enjoyed immensely.

"Yes, but I'm not ill. Apart from my back and my ankles which only ache a bit once in a while everything is perfect. And you take so good care of me." She smiled at him lovingly, wiggling her toes in his hands.

"I simply don't want you to feel exhausted. I admit that it's cute… and sexy… when you waddle around with that big belly, but I know that you are getting tired more easily now," he explained. "I make enough money. I've never even needed Leonard to pay the rent. I was just nice to have the company. I'm just saying… you could relax more if you want."

"I know that, and it's not for the money. I love my work, Sheldon. You know I've got an assistant now in the lab. And I have some great news I wanted to tell you. I talked to the Dean today, and as I'm not performing that much experiments any more but more data analysis and paper writing, we agreed that I could work in home office if I like. I think I will do it for two or three days a week. Even though you got the elevator repaired, this would be much more relaxing. I'd only have to be at work every other day and can do the rest from here. Look how attentive Guiseppe is watching us," she pointed to the terrarium where the turtle was looking at them. "He already seems to know Mommy will have more time for him, too. Isn't that great?" She beamed at him.

"It sounds acceptable," Sheldon confirmed reluctantly, glad that she agreed to relax more, but not so thrilled that it entailed he would be seeing her less. "But what about our lunch breaks? I'll only see you in the evenings then," he pouted.

"I'm sure we'll make the best of the time when we're together," she winked at him. "And Howard admitted that the guys are missing you with all the time we're spending together now. You could have lunch with them, just the gang like in the old days."

"But now I like the new days. Why do I always have to change…" Sheldon was still not convinced. "And what if your water breaks while you're alone at home?" Then he smiled. "I know! I could ask Gablehouser to take a home office day as well. Just once a week. I only need my whiteboard and my laptop, I can work anywhere. My dark matter lectures take place only once a week, that's the only day I have to be there. It'll be just like parallel play we have perfected already."

"I would like that," Amy conceded. "And we talked about that we'll both take three months off when the baby's there," she continued. "But I'd like to stay in contact with the department to keep up-to-date with all the progress in research. I just don't want to feel left out."

"Amy. With our genius, you know there'll be only true progress as long as we're working on it. And even if we'll only work part-time, there's still enough left to keep on the Nobel track. I told you before that we can combine family and a career. We'll just need time to adapt to the changes first, no one knows that better than me. There will be enough sleep deprivation in the beginning, so I'll just be happy to stay in bed with you and the baby for three months. We can get news from Leonard and your assistant about work if you want. Science won't reinvent itself in the meantime."

"You are a wise man indeed, Doctor Cooper," Amy smiled. "Now, about that bed sit-in," she said, deliberately using that hippie phrase to tease him, "would you mind practicing a bit already?" She grinned and pulled him up behind her towards the bedroom.

* * *

Sheldon had been really touched one day when his students had gathered after the final lecture for this semester with smiley faces. His teaching skills had improved considerably – of course, like everything he did – just as Gablehouser had hoped when he sent him to attend the seminar with Amy. His students seemed to have reached the same conclusion. They had even prepared a small speech, thanking him for teaching them, and that although he never gave them easy exercises it was well worth it when they finally got to the solution. They thanked him for encouraging them to come to him with their elaborations and for always giving them useful hints to bridge the gaps.

At the end, they gave him a large teddy bear wearing a t-shirt of Maxwell's equations for his daughter and gave him and Amy all their best wishes for their childbirth. Sheldon had been truly surprised how they knew about it, but they had seen Amy visiting him a few times after their lectures, and despite his aversion to public displays of affection they had always hugged and they had seen him stroking her belly as well. Trying to smooth over his embarrassment he then told them that he didn't participate in the social construct of gift-giving since it always left one party in debt of the other, but they convinced him that it was simply the appropriate response to having been gifted with his knowledge, and that technically the teddy was not for him, but for his child.

He wasn't sure about sarcasm again, but as they definitely spoke the truth, he gladly accepted the present. Then he went on for twenty more minutes about the history and significance of the Maxwell equations with special emphasis on the second one, Gauss's law for magnetism, which states that the divergence of the magnetic field equals zero, implying that magnetic monopoles cannot exist. The student's bored looks then changed a bit as he told them about his arctic expedition in search of slow-moving magnetic monopoles and how his experiment had been tempered by his friends with static signals from an electric can opener. Therefore his students now had a vivid example that those equations were still valid for the time being.

Amy had been so proud of him when he came home with the teddy bear and told her all about it. Contrary to the beginning of the semester, he hadn't talked about how tedious the students were for a long time and even told her from time to time funny anecdotes they came up with if they had found a creative way to solve an equation. Everything seemed to have fallen into place now.

* * *

The last two weeks before her scheduled birth date, Sheldon had finally convinced Amy to work entirely from home, and he called every two hours to check on her if he wasn't staying at home anyway. But there weren't any signs that the baby was about to come.

For the final preparations for the baby Sheldon had started to sanitize the whole apartment because Amy didn't seem to be interested in it – possibly due to her increased exposure to Penny's sloppy behavior over the years, he thought. When he was still working on it two hours later after Amy came back from a nap, she had enough.

"Sheldon, you know I love you, quirks and all. But your mysophobia seems to increase inversely proportional to the time left before the estimated birth date. I appreciate that you furbished the whole apartment, but it already was impeccable before, so please give it a rest now," Amy started tentatively.

Sheldon didn't even look up from wiping the floor. "Oh, I tried to stop half an hour ago, but it's a vicious circle – everywhere I went I left footsteps, and then I had to clean them up again," Sheldon started to explain and continued with the cleaning. "And just as we're speaking, all these germs are multiplying exponentially, oh dear I will never finish…"

He paused, then he smiled. "Oh, I have a great idea! Why don't we set up a clean room environment, at least in the baby's room? I just need to install an air filter and replace the door by a hermetic version… Then we'd simply have to sanitize that room only and wear gloves and overalls that will be disposed of after each exposure to the rest of the apartment…"

Amy was listening with increasing anxiety. "Sheldon. It is a proven fact that regular and consistent exposure to a variety of germs and germ sources is vital in the development of a robust immune system that doesn't perceive everyday trivialities as hostile invaders. But at least I'm glad that your sanitizer doesn't contain Triclosan because it may help bacteria becoming resistant to antibacterial compounds."

But Sheldon just shook his head and kept on cleaning, ignoring her explanations. She sighed. "Sheldon, stop it, you're starting to act crazy," she pleaded.

"Am not," he mumbled, not even looking up at her as he continued his self-imposed task.

"If you keep that up, I'm gonna have you tested myself!" Amy threatened.

"Mh-hm," Sheldon answered absent-mindedly.

Amy was getting worried as that still didn't help, so as a last resort she crouched down in front of him, grabbed his face and kissed him hard. Sheldon lost his balance at the surprise, and then Amy tipped over as well, landing on top of him on the floor. Instinctively his hands came up to protect her belly, and then he leant in and kissed her back, nibbling on her bottom lip which always made her part her lips to grant him entry. The cleaning wipes lay forgotten on the floor as he got lost in the sensation of feeling her tongue swirling around his.

Finally Amy broke the kiss and grinned slyly at the sight of him leaning back into her, lips following hers with eyes still closed. "Now, did you just care about the amount of germs being exchanged between us?" She asked.

"Uhm," he started, blinking at her while he slowly opened his eyes. "I've thought about a lot of things, but my first coherent thought was, why did you stop already?" He pouted.

"I'd be happy to continue, but please stop sanitizing. A robust immune system can only develop by exposure to germs, do you understand?" Amy asked, hoping to get through to him finally.

"Oh, whatever, c'mere," he said and pulled her back into him for another kiss.

* * *

One evening Amy was sitting next to Sheldon on the couch, drinking tea. She was wearing a shirt and elastic pants to accommodate her belly. She had reclined to a comfortable position to breathe more easily. Her enormous baby belly was like a magnetic attraction to Sheldon, he just couldn't keep his hands to himself and was stroking her stretched skin tenderly, pushing up her shirt. He loved feeling their daughter kick him, and she seemed to be most active in the evening.

"Hey, Amy, if she's not kicking, you could rest your teacup on your belly. It's large enough to be used as a table," he grinned.

"Sure, make fun of me, go on," Amy replied sarcastically.

Sheldon thought for a moment. "Sarcasm?" He then asked insecurely.

"Obviously," Amy rolled her eyes.

"I saw that. And you may praise me now, I'm really getting better at this," he said proudly.

"At getting sarcasm or attempting humor at my expense?" she asked sarcastically again.

"Sarcasm," he explained, not getting it this time. "And about your tummy… you know how much I love your mind and body. You've always been gorgeous… my favorite spot has been your shapely posterior… but lately with your luscious belly… and even your bosom is more ample… I just want to touch you all the time, is that crazy?"

"Not at all," she smiled at his compliments. "I'm sorry if I seem to be in a bad mood. I'm just a bit anxious. I'm already five days overdue now and still haven't felt anything to indicate I might give birth soon," she explained.

"Amy. Don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure it's my child? I'm always on time!" Sheldon wondered, winking at her.

"Hey, you made another joke, good one," Amy grinned now. "So you seem to have forgotten that we've been fooling around all day when she was conceived. And we've been together in the seminar. Even under the completely hypothetical assumption that I had wanted to cheat on you, the logistics would never have worked out," she argued.

"Even without an eidetic memory I would never forget that," he said with a dazed smile. "But alright, then it's just women and their punctuality," he concluded.

"Hey, I'm nearly as punctual as yourself! But seriously, I'm starting to get a bit worried," Amy said. "The doctor said, if there are still no signs next week, they would like to try to induce labor. I don't like that!"

"Uhm… there must be more natural ways to help it along?" Sheldon asked, wiggling his brows at her.

"Is everything about sex with you?" Amy asked sternly, but failed to suppress a grin.

"I can't help it when you're sitting here, looking so cute and sexy," he mumbled. "And once we're parents, there won't be much time for that anymore, at least in the beginning. From what I've heard, we will be glad to catch a few hours' sleep at all. So it would be logical to built up stocks of memory... But simply out of curiosity… would making love really work?"

"If it did, our daughter would have been born a long time ago," she winked at him. "There's no solid evidence, but it surely wouldn't hurt to give it another try. There are indications that an orgasm might help to stimulate the uterus into action. Your semen also might help to soften my cervix, readying it to open when labor starts. And the release of oxytocin during sex might help the contractions."

"I love it when you talk scientifically about this," Sheldon said huskily.

"Then how about this as a further turn-on," Amy smiled and wiggled out of her shirt. Her breasts sprung free, because she hadn't been wearing her standard bras at home anymore as she had felt too constricted by them. "As oxytocin helps the labor to progress, another way to release this hormone is to trick my body into thinking I am suckling the baby. This can be achieved by breast stimulation like this," and she demonstrated by gently rolling and rubbing her nipples. Sheldon's jaw dropped as he stared at that erotic sight in front of him.

Amy continued, enjoying his full attention. "It's important to not just massage the tip of the nipple, but the whole areola around it, like this," and Sheldon gulped as she continued massaging her breasts. "I've been trying this for the last two days, three times a day stimulating continuously one breast for fifteen minutes, then continuing with the other breast for fifteen minutes again. Until now, it didn't show much of an effect, but perhaps I've been doing it wrong. Would you like to help me?" She asked, batting her eyelashes at him flirtatiously.

"Are you trying to kill me here? How should I be able to work when I know now that you're sitting at home pleasuring yourself? Good lord, woman," he groaned, his voice dropped an octave. He lunged forward and kissed her hungrily while he fondled her soft breasts. Amy replied avidly, exploring his mouth with her agile tongue and nibbling on his bottom lip. Their breaths mingled, tasting of the fennel tea they had just shared.

When they came up for air, Sheldon took the nearest nipple into his mouth. He ran his tongue around it and eagerly started to suckle and nibble on it, cupping her full breasts in both hands. Amy leaned back her head on the couch and reveled in his touches. He was very thoroughly in his 'massage'. His other hand had moved to her other nipple to caress it in a similar way his mouth was doing, rolling it between his fingers and also rubbing the area around it. When the fifteen minutes were over, he moved his hot mouth over to her other breast, giving it the same treatment. Amy was moaning softly as his tongue worked her magic on her.

After half an hour, Sheldon couldn't take it much longer. Her breast popped out of his mouth and he looked at her with dilated pupils. "Get out of these pants now and turn around on the couch," he said hoarsely, stripping off his shirts.

"I thought you'd never ask," Amy smiled and eagerly complied, tossing her remaining clothes on the couch. She rested her arms on the backside of the couch, put her knees on the cushion and raised her bottom which allowed for enough space to accommodate her waist. When he had freed himself from his pants, her lush posterior was already greeting him. He slowly entered her from behind, marveling at how wet she already was, both moaning at the contact.

"Oh yes, we will definitely be doing that thrice a day now," he leered at her while he started to speed up his thrusts. Amy met him, rocking her hips against him in synchronization. His hands were on her hips while he stood behind her, then he moved them forward to fondle her belly. As his thrusts became more urgent and Amy started to pant as well, he moved further down to the apex between her thighs and rubbed her swollen bunch of nerves in tiny circles.

"Oh yes, just like that, so good… so close now," Amy moaned. They were both breathing heavily.

"AMYYY…. You feel so good, this is perfect… oh yes… here it comes," Sheldon groaned and shuddered behind her as he reached his climax, his fingers flicking over her nub frantically now, and she convulsed around him with a deep moan as she flew over the edge as well, milking the last drops out of him.

When he pulled out, Amy turned towards him and they kissed tenderly with his hands on her waist.

Suddenly Amy gasped, breaking the kiss. "I felt something," she said, clutching her belly.

"I should hope so," Sheldon grinned.

"No, that's not what I meant, I think it was a contraction," Amy said. "You simply excel at everything you do," she said calmly, stroking her abdomen in wonder.

Sheldon, however, was frantically putting his clothes back on. "Oh dear, oh dear," he wailed, "I didn't think it would work that well," he nearly fell to the floor as he stumbled with one leg in his pants and couldn't get them up fast enough. He turned to her and saw her still sitting naked on the couch. "What are you waiting for, little lady? Come on, I have to get you to the hospital!" He tossed her shirt towards her.

"Sheldon, calm down." Amy had gotten up now and grabbed his arms to stop him pacing around. "It might have nothing to do with what we did. It could be what people unfamiliar with the law of large numbers might call a coincidence. And I won't be walking around in the hospital for hours."

She put on her shirt and panties and went to the kitchen counter to get a stop watch. She needed something to keep him from panicking. "Now, I want you to count the time between contractions. It's not even real labor yet. That would come if I have difficulties breathing and really need to concentrate on it. Now, only when the contractions start to come within four minutes for about an hour, we will drive to the hospital, understood?"

Sheldon took the watch and stared at her, then nodded. A thought ran through his head that he desperately needed a shower now, but he couldn't leave her alone. Amy sat down on the couch again and patted to his spot next to her. "Now come here, you can do some counting. That's what you've learned in my lab during your vacation some years ago, right?" She smiled at him and cuddled into his arm.

A while later she cringed and grabbed his arm. "Now… start… the clock!" she groaned. Sheldon complied and stroked her arm soothingly. They stayed in their embrace, and when the next contraction hit her, he looked at the watch. "Ten minutes forty," he said.

"Good," Amy exhaled as the pain subsided. "Still plenty of time. I will take a shower now. I know you want one too, and I might need some help, no funny business, though. Would you like to join me?"

Amy's patient nature had calmed him down considerably. They lathered each other, and as Sheldon started to wash her hair, her knees became weak with another contraction. She wrapped her arms around his neck and Sheldon supported her, looking at the watch hanging next to the shower curtain. "Ten minutes twenty-one, the gradient is decreasing," Sheldon said and made a quick calculation. "If we assume this can be extrapolated linearly, then in two hours twenty minutes your contractions will be only four minutes apart."

"I doubt it will go that fast. Let's just collect more data, then the model will become more accurate," Amy panted.

When they had dried each other off, Sheldon proposed to watch Little House on the Prairie so that Amy could do something she loved while she walked around in the living room to keep in motion which seemed to help her.

Four hours later, Amy had to rest all her weight on the back of the sofa as another wave hit her and she panted heavily and groaned.

Shortly before, Penny and Leonard had knocked on the door, politely asking if they might keep the noise down a bit because people were trying to sleep. As long as it took them to finally believe that they were having sex indeed, they now seemed to think Sheldon and Amy had been going at it for quite some time that evening with all that moaning and groaning coming from their apartment. They had been quite surprised when a disheveled Sheldon had told them Amy had entered labor, although they knew that she was overdue already. They had asked if they needed any help, but Amy had cried, "Go away!" as another contraction rippled through her body and she clung to Sheldon for support. They gave them their best wishes and told them they knew where to find them if they needed anything. Sheldon had called after them to feed Guiseppe which they agreed to of course, relieved that he hadn't given them a whole nutrition list with an explanatory lecture as usual.

Sheldon looked up from the watch now and cringed as he saw her face contorted in pain again. "Finally, four minutes now! You're not gonna make me wait any longer. We're going to the hospital and have you get an epidural. I don't want to see you in pain anymore," he said and stroked her hair tenderly.

Amy didn't argue anymore. She nodded meekly and grabbed his waist for support as they slowly made it to the elevator, Sheldon carrying her bag. They arrived at Amy's car without further incident, but as soon as she was seated, she convulsed again in pain.

"Should I wait?" Sheldon asked concerned from the driver's seat.

"Nooo! Get that car going, ahhh…." Amy cried, clutching the door handle in a death grip.

Sheldon could drive surprisingly fast in times of need. And luckily, as it was nearly midnight, the streets were mostly empty. When Amy finally got her epidural, both of them were immensely relieved. She still felt the contractions, but the pain was switched off. It still took her two more hours until she was dilated enough to be finally allowed to push. Sheldon's hand had never been squeezed that tightly, a boa constructor was nothing compared to Amy's grip.

After another hour of pushing and denying Sheldon's attempts to convince her that she could do it, just a little bit more, at 3 a.m. in the morning Amy finally gave birth to their perfectly healthy little daughter. For her first birth, it had actually gone rather fast in retrospective.

When she was cleaned up, measured and weighted, Sheldon brought her over so that Amy could hold her in her arms, and the little one instinctively started to search for her nipple.

"Look at her, Sheldon, isn't she perfect," Amy said, completely exhausted and in awe.

"Of course, she's our child, what did you expect? Although she looks a bit crumpled from birth, but I've heard that's normal. I'm sure she will turn out just as beautiful as you," he replied, honestly as always, and stroked both their heads tenderly. "Welcome to this world, little lady… I've got two little ladies now," he whispered.

"I love you, Sheldon. I am so happy to share this with you," Amy said, tears dwelling up in her eyes.

"Wait, I think I've got it… it's an easy one, because you said you're happy. So these must be happy tears," Sheldon said, proud to have guessed it correctly, and Amy giggled at his enthusiasm.

Then he grinned as their daughter had found Amy's nipple in the meantime and started suckling. "She's definitely a Shellybean, she already knows what's good," he smiled goofily and felt a tear dropping from his eyes. _'I'm starting to get the hang of happy tears,'_ he thought in wonder. "I love you both so much… and now I've officially turned into a hippie," he sighed and kissed his daughter on the forehead and Amy on the lips tenderly.

* * *

**A/N:** That's it now, they have a daughter but you can think of a name yourself. I never liked the names of children in other stories, so I thought I'd just leave it like this. Thank you all again so much for your wonderful support, you made me so happy! Especially Hazelra7 who is such an awesome and kind beta reader! For this chapter I'd also like to thank IDICGlyph again who mentioned that Sheldon would need to do the nesting and cleaning stuff (I hadn't even thought of that at all, so I included his sanitizing obsession here), and she provided me with Amy's reply that exposure to germs helps the immune system. Thank you so much!

By the way, if you're interested, I've started writing another story taking place after season eight's finale... yeah, one of many others that already exist... but I wanted to give it a try as well. I will post it as soon as I have figured it all out. Until then, take care everyone:-)


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